The House Armed Services Committee is gearing up for its longest week of the year as it holds the marathon markup of the Defense authorization bill.

The sweeping Pentagon policy bill authorizes more than $500 billion in Pentagon spending and covers a wide array of policy. Unlike the Senate Armed Services panel, it is an open markup where the most heated defense issues are debated well into the night.

The hearing begins at 10 a.m. Wednesday and continues until all amendments have been considered, and the bill is passed. It typically concludes sometime around 2 a.m. the following morning.

Sen. Jack Reed (D-R.I.) on Sunday dismissed calls for the U.S. to help enforce a no-fly zone over Syrian airspace to aid opposition groups seeking the ouster of President Bashar al-Assad.

“The no fly zone is not going to effectively deter the Assad regime,” said Reed on CBS’s “Face the Nation.” “They can use artillery, in fact they can use helicopter gunships, they can continue to fight.”

Cost overruns and technical issues have led some lawmakers to question the navy program.

The president is under pressure from both supporters and critics to announce the size of the U.S. force after 2014.

U.S. and NATO leaders will sit down next year to hash out the future of Afghanistan, in what will likely be the final alliance meeting on the war before American troops depart in 2014. 

The report, released by the Center for a New American Security, says the U.S. could still achieve Obama's narrower objectives.

In the wake of increasing sexual violence in the military, the House next week will look to pass legislation aimed at making it easier for sexually abused veterans to claim disability benefits.

The bill does not go as far as Democrats would like. Some have said Congress should write a law that would allow officials separate from the Defense Department to investigate and prosecute sexual assault in the military.

Spokesman Josh Earnest said the administration's immediate priority was removing Assad from power.

Defense giant Lockheed Martin is confident the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter will be ready for combat in time to meet the Pentagon's deployment deadlines.