Sen. John McCain last week fresh off the Sept. 30 defeat of his first amendment to kill the additional 10 C-17 airlifters that Senate appropriators included in the 2010 defense spending bill introduced two new amendments—splitting into two parts his original amendment, which would have eliminated the additional C-17s and put that money in operations and maintenance. The first new amendment (SA 2580) would strike the 10 additional C-17s, and the second (SA 2581) would increase O&M funding. Part of McCain’s pitch has been that appropriators robbed Peter (O&M) to pay Paul (more C-17s), but during the extensive floor debate on the first amendment, Sen. Daniel Inouye (D-Hawaii), chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee, said that was not the case. Continue
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.