House Passes Fiscal 2015 Defense Spending Bill

The House approved H.R. 4870, its version of the Fiscal 2015 defense spending bill, providing $491 billion in discretionary funding and $79.4 billion for overseas contingency operations, including the war in Afghanistan. Passage came on June 20 by a vote of 340 to 73. “The bill helps to meet the most pressing needs to address current and arising threats to the safety of our nation, while finding ways to trim excess and reduce lower priority programs without negatively affecting our troops or the success of our military missions,” said House Appropriations Committee Chairman Rep. Hal Rogers (R-Ky.) in a release. Among the Air Force-related amendments adopted on the House floor is one introduced by Rep. Candice Miller (R-Mich.) that blocked the Air Force from using Fiscal 2015 funds to divest, retire, transfer, or place into storage any A-10 aircraft, or to dissolve any A-10 units. The amendment brought forth by Rep. Jon Runyan (R-N.J.) that prohibits KC-10 retirements in Fiscal 2015 also passed. The House in May passed its version of the Fiscal 2015 defense authorization bill. It also prevents the A-10 fleet divestiture. (List of amendments)