The Senate on Friday, after it had approved a continuing resolution to keep the federal government operating, dove back into the 2006 defense authorization bill but scarcely broke the surface, stopping work in mid-afternoon, when it adjourned for the day. Lawmakers won’t take it up again until 3 p.m. on Monday. President Bush signed the continuance measure, so Senators have until Nov. 18 to bring closure, we hope, to this latest budget saga.
A provision in the fiscal 2025 defense policy bill will require the Defense Department to include the military occupational specialty of service members who die by suicide in its annual report on suicide deaths, though it remains to be seen how much data the department will actually disclose.