The Obama Administration issued a new Statement of Administration Policy Friday as the Senate continued deliberation on the 2010 defense spending bill, admonishing lawmakers to forgo appropriators attempt to continue production on the C-17 airlifter. Unlike with the F-22, the Administration has not said it would veto the bill if it contains funding for C-17s; instead, it repeated the “strongly objects” wording used in its July 28 SAP.
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.