The Republican alternative would halt next year’s automatic, across-the-board spending cuts by replacing defense cuts with cuts to social programs.

Rep. Mike Turner said lawmakers shouldn't be guided by Obama's "secret plan with the Russians" to diminish America’s missile defenses.

Sen Jim Webb (D-Va.) is looking to close a critical "loophole" in the administration's war powers, which could be used to take military action against Syria without congressional approval. 

Rep. Todd Akin (R-Mo.) made an unsuccessful attempt Wednesday to tie half of the procurement funds for the F-35 fighter to the Defense Department providing a date when the fighter would be operational.

But Akin’s amendment faced apparent unanimous opposition on the House Armed Services Committee at its markup, and a substitute amendment from ranking member Adam Smith (D-Wash.) was instead adopted.

FBI Director Mueller told lawmakers some surveillance provisions set to expire are “absolutely essential” to stopping terrorists.

In the first debate over nuclear issues at Wednesday’s House Armed Services Committee markup, Rep. Michael Turner (R-Ohio) included two amendments to the Defense authorization bill, including one for $160 million to build a new nuclear facility.

The amendment from Turner, chairman of the Strategic Forces subcommittee, provides the funds for the Chemistry and Metallurgy Research Building Replacement nuclear facility, a plutonium production facility, to be built in Los Alamos, N.M.

Defense Secretary Leon Panetta pressed lawmakers on Wednesday to ratify a key international treaty that could affect future military operations across the globe. 

The amendment blocks using funds in the Defense authorization bill "to propose, plan for, or execute an additional BRAC round."

Lawmakers say they have serious questions about whether the nation can afford the new intelligence agency being proposed by the Pentagon.

Under Secretary of Defense for Intelligence Mike Vickers and Defense Intelligence Agency chief Lt. Gen. Ronald Burgess unveiled their budget plan for the new Defense Clandestine Service (DCS) during a closed-door hearing Tuesday of the Senate Armed Services Committee. 

The new office is designed to work with its counterparts at the CIA and across the U.S. intelligence community to gather information on national-security threats beyond the battlefield, according to defense officials. 

The department claims the new agency can be fully funded within the five-year budget plan for the Pentagon that Congress is already reviewing.

But lawmakers who attended Tuesday’s session seemed skeptical about the costs of the venture.