Subject: POLITICO's Morning Defense: HASC approves NDAA — Carter and Dunford back on Capitol Hill — Trump's foreign policy speech fails to impress
From: Morning Defense <[email-masked]>
To: <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu, 28 Apr 2016 06:32:56 -0600

By Connor O'Brien and Jeremy Herb | 04/28/2016 08:30 AM EDT

With Louis Nelson and Austin Wright

LEGISLATING AFTER DARK - HASC APPROVES NDAA: Following more than 16 hours of debate and dozens of amendments, the House Armed Services Committee voted 60-2 to approve its version of the annual National Defense Authorization Act. Chairman Mac Thornberry (R-Texas) gaveled out the marathon session at 2:34 a.m.

The bill would authorize $610.5 billion in defense spending for the new fiscal 2017 year, even with the topline requested by the administration. But it allocates $23.1 billion in war-related Overseas Contingency Operations funds for base budget programs. Hawkish Republicans' aim is to eventually get more money through a supplemental appropriation after a new Congress and president is sworn in next year - a move that has caused heartburn among some Armed Services Democrats.

The bill is expected to be considered by the full House the week of May 16.

HASC ranking Democrat Adam Smith of Washington state supported the measure. He had said before the markup that he was undecided, but cautioned the rearranging of war funding is "no small matter."

The two 'no' votes: Democrats Jackie Speier of California and Tulsi Gabbard of Hawaii.

SOME HIGHLIGHTS FROM THE DAY - AND NIGHT:

- HASC OK'S WOMEN REGISTERING FOR THE DRAFT: In arguably the most surprising vote of the long day, the Armed Services Committee narrowly adopted, 32-30. an amendment from Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-Calif.) that would require women to register with Selective Service. 

Hunter didn't even vote for his own amendment, which he offered to force public debate on Defense Secretary Ash Carter's decision to open all combat jobs to women. Six other Republicans, however, joined with almost all the panel's Democrats to support the proposal.

- LAWMAKERS SLUG IT OUT ON ULA, SPACEX: The committee adopted by voice vote an amendment from Rep. Mike Coffman (R-Colo.) to permit ULA to obtain 18 RD-180 rocket engines for competitive launches. The proposal was among the very last considered. "It's been worked on all day," Thornberry said.

ULA and Pentagon officials say they need 18 RD-180 engines in order to "bridge the gap" for national security launches before a U.S.-made alternative is developed and certified. But opponents - led in committee by Hunter - contended ULA is trying to stockpile engines, and only nine would be needed at most for competitive launches through 2019. Hunter said he planned to offer an amendment to cut the number of rockets ULA could purchase to nine, but the amendment was ruled out of order because the House Intelligence Committee also has jurisdiction over the issue.

HASC also adopted an amendment from Smith to authorize $100 million to develop a new launch vehicle, in addition to a new U.S.-made RD-180 replacement. 

- CONFEDERATE FLAG AMENDMENT UNFURLED: An amendment from Smith would have barred the military from supporting military educational institutions and academies that fly the confederate flag. Smith said the proposal was aimed at the Citadel in South Carolina, which flies the Confederate flag, but requires a two-thirds approval by the state legislature to take it down. "We need something to force South Carolina to do the right thing," Smith said.

The panel adopted Smith's amendment, but only after adding a change from Thornberry to exempt institutions like the Citadel whose board of visitors has voted to take the flag down, effectively rendering the proposal moot. Republicans charged the proposal would hurt cadets at the Citadel, which doesn't have the power to remove the flag.

- DEMOCRATIC NUKE PROPOSALS SHOT DOWN: HASC rejected a slew Democratic amendments aimed at the U.S. nuclear modernization efforts, including a proposal from Rep. Loretta Sanchez (D-Calif.) cutting $317 million in nuclear weapons spending. The panel also defeated, 26-36, a proposal from Rep. Pete Aguilar (D-Calif.) that would have required a 30-year cost estimate from the Congressional Budget Office for fielding and maintaining the nation's nuclear stockpile as well as life extension, modernization and replacement programs.

- SAGE GROUSE LIMITATIONS STICK: The committee turned back an effort from Rep. Niki Tsongas (D-Mass.) to strip provisions that prohibit findings under the Endangered Species Act for the Greater Sage Grouse. The vote was 27-35 against removing the limits.

Morning D Though Bubble: Would it really be NDAA if Rep. Speier didn't have a Sage Grouse poster handy?

- GITMO PROPOSAL DEFEATED: The panel once again defeated an amendment from Smith to roll back limitations on closing the U.S military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and transferring the detainees to the U.S. Smith, who conceded the proposal was "familiar" to lawmakers, again called the prison an "eyesore" that is "unbelievably expensive."

- MORE MARKUP ACTION: The panel adopted, 34-28, a proposal from Rep. John Kline (R-Minn.) that would exempt the Defense Department and the National Nuclear Security Administration from an executive order requiring prospective contractors to disclose labor law violations to the government. 

And lawmakers turned back, 9-52, an amendment from Gabbard to strike a provision to reauthorize the training and equipping of Syrian rebels. Earlier, HASC defeated, 20-4, a proposal from Rep. Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.) to separate the F-35 program's next block of software into its own separate acquisition program.

LOOKING FOR AN AMENDMENT? Be sure to check the Defense Pro Document Drawer, where we've got the text of amendments from the markup.

STAYING FUELED: To help reporters stay awake, Thornberry dropped off a trash can full of Rip It - his favorite military energy drink. As a result, we didn't need that extra cup of coffee to power through the chairman's mark.

MORNING D NDAA CONTEST WINNER: Congratulations to Heather Brandon, who predicted 2:34 a.m. - the exact time the markup gaveled out. Enjoy your year of bragging rights, while we enjoy the fact that NDAA ended well before 4 a.m.

PLUS, CARTER BLASTS HASC'S DEFENSE FUNDING SCHEME: Carter slammed the House Armed Services Committee yesterday for the funding scheme baked into its version of the NDAA. 

"I have serious concerns with a proposal from one of the defense committees to underfund DoD's overseas warfighting accounts by $18 billion and spend that money on programmatic items we didn't request," Carter said in prepared testimony to the Senate Defense Appropriations Subcommittee. "While I don't expect this committee to consider such a proposal, I have to say that this approach is deeply troubling and flawed for several reasons."

HAPPY THURSDAY AND WELCOME TO MORNING DEFENSE, where we have a programming note: Austin Wright will be handling Morning D tomorrow after this morning's marathon markup. Email tips, pitches and feedback to [email-masked], and follow on Twitter @abwrig, @morningdefense and @politicopro.

HAPPENING TODAY - CARTER, DUNFORD ROUND TWO: Carter and Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Joe Dunford are back on Capitol Hill this morning for the second straight day. This time, they're testifying before the Senate Armed Services Committee on the U.S. campaign against the Islamic State and the larger U.S. strategy in the Middle East. Expect some fireworks from Senate Armed Services Chairman John McCain of Arizona and some of the other Republicans on the committee.

ALSO TODAY: The Center for Strategic and International Studies hosts a panel discussion on deterrence in the 21st century. And the Atlantic Council holds a talk on the future of U.S. defense alliances and partnerships.

DEVELOPING OVERNIGHT - SOUTH KOREA SAYS SUSPECTED NORTH KOREAN MIDRANGE MISSILE CRASHES, via The Associated Press: "A suspected powerful midrange North Korean missile crashed seconds after liftoff Thursday, South Korea's Defense Ministry said, in what would be the second such embarrassing failure in recent weeks. 

"South Korea's report of the North's launch failure is particularly humiliating as it comes ahead of a major ruling party meeting next week in Pyongyang, which leader Kim Jong Un is believed to be looking to as a way to put his stamp more forcefully on a government he inherited after his dictator father's death in late 2011."

2016 WATCH - DONALD TRUMP'S FOREIGN POLICY SPEECH FAILS TO IMPRESS, writes our colleague Michael Crowley: "In his address to an elite, invitation-only Washington foreign policy audience Wednesday, Donald Trump promised that, as president, he would restore a 'coherent' vision to America's role in the world. But across the ideological spectrum, and even among natural allies, Trump's speech received a failing grade for coherence and drew snickering and scorn from foreign policy insiders who remain unconvinced that Trump is up to the job."

- TRUMP'S SLOGAN: 'AMERICA FIRST,' more here from POLITICO's Ben Schreckinger and Nick Gass: "Donald Trump went for full-on presidential on Wednesday, laying out a broad foreign policy vision in prepared remarks delivered from a ritzy hotel ballroom. The speech was notable more for the atmospherics and presentation than for its substance, which amounted to an elaborated form of the foreign policy points Trump has been making in stump speeches and interviews, in some cases for decades.

"With an eye towards November, Trump aimed his critiques squarely at Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton. He explicitly called for a nonpartisan American foreign policy and positioned himself, at times, as a dove to Clinton's hawk, setting the stage for a general election foreign policy debate in which Trump scrambles typical partisan divides, straying selectively from Republican Party orthodoxy."

- CORKER GUSHES OVER SPEECH, via our colleague Hanna Trudo: "Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Bob Corker praised Donald Trump's foreign policy speech on Wednesday night, calling it a 'great step in the right direction.' Speaking to MSNBC host Chris Matthews on his program "Hardball," the Tennessee Republican said that Trump's remarks, delivered at Washington's Mayflower Hotel earlier in the day, were 'full of substance' and he was 'very pleased' with what he heard."

- AND GRAHAM PANS IT, via POLITICO'S Brianna Gurciullo: "Lindsey Graham tore into Donald Trump's speech on foreign policy, calling it 'unnerving,' 'pathetic' and 'scary.' The former Republican presidential candidate told WABC Radio that the speech was 'nonsensical' and showed that Trump 'has no understanding of the world and the role we play.'"

WAR REPORT - THE END OF THE SYRIAN CEASE-FIRE, AP reports a military buildup and increased fighting appears to be the death knell for the cease-fire: "A military buildup in northern Syria, coupled with heavy fighting and mounting civilian casualties, spells the end of a cease-fire that for two months brought some relief to a war-weary country. The renewed violence is ushering in what could be an even more ruinous chapter in the 5-year-old conflict.

"About 200 civilians have been killed in the past week, nearly half of them around Aleppo. There has even been shelling in Damascus, along with a car bomb - both rarities for the capital.

With peace talks in Geneva completely deadlocked, Syrians are regarding the escalating bloodshed with dread, fearing a return to full war and slow destruction."

- U.N. ENVOY URGES OBAMA, PUTIN TO SAVE SYRIA TRUCE, PEACE PROCESS, via Reuters: "The United Nations mediator on Thursday called on the leaders of the United States and the Russian Federation to salvage the "barely alive" two-month-old ceasefire in Syria and revitalize the damaged peace process."

SPEED READ

- A wave of nighttime airstrikes hit a hospital in Syria supported by Doctors Without Borders and nearby buildings in the rebel-held part of the contested city of Aleppo, killing at least 27 people: AP

- The Air Force awards SpaceX an $82.7 million contract for the company's first military space launch: POLITICO Pro

- Lebanese forces kill an Islamic State leader in an operation near the border with Syria, the country's news agency says: Reuters

- Chinese President Xi Jinping says his country will prevent war from breaking out between North and South Korea: Time

 - With a U.N. ruling expected soon on contested islands in the South China Sea, the U.S. steps up patrols in the area: The Washington Post

- Democrats block the first spending bill of the year in the Senate over an Iran provision: POLITICO

- Helmet-cam video footage obtained by Vice News shows Islamic State militants in an American Humvee fighting Kurdish Peshmerga forces: The Washington Post

- A Marine discharged for refusing to remove a Bible verse from her cubicle appeals her case to the highest military court: The Washington Post

- One of the first women to earn the Ranger tab will now become the Army's first female infantry officer: Military Times

- The Joint Chiefs chairman awards Purple Hearts to four Marines injured in a March rocket attack in Iraq carried out by the Islamic State: Military Times

The Kremlin's Candidate - Vladimir Putin's American cable channel isn't just covering the 2016 election: It appears to be picking sides. POLITICO Senior Foreign Affairs Correspondent Michael Crowley examines the inner workings of the Russian government-funded network and how its coverage has begun to eerily reflect the growing bromance between Putin and Donald Trump. 

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