Defense

The House Wednesday afternoon had agreed to three minor amendments to the Department of Defense Appropriations Act, all of which would ensure spending on specific health-related issues faced by U.S. service members.

By voice vote, the House agreed to an amendment from Rep. Cliff Stearns (R-Fla.) that would take $16 million from a broad Defense-wide account and use it for a prostate cancer research program. Members also agreed to language from Rep. Pete Sessions (R-Texas) that would ensure $19 million goes to help people with traumatic brain injuries.

The chairman and ranking member of the House Appropriations Defense Subcommittee are planning to hold hearings soon on the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), which could open the door to questions about U.S. funding levels for NATO.

"We have agreed that following the completion of this fiscal year's defense appropriation bill, we plan to hold hearings and look thoroughly into what we see as the role of NATO today, tomorrow and next year," said subcommittee Chairman Bill Young (R-Fla.) Wednesday. Young said he and ranking member Norm Dicks (D-Wash.) agreed to these hearings after holding several discussions about it this year.

Several members of the House have proposed amendments to the Department of Defense Appropriations Act that would prohibit any funds from being used in military operations in Libya.

The House is expected to begin looking at amendments to the spending bill Wednesday. Several dozen have already been filed, including those from seven members seeking to defund Libya operations.

Sens. Roger Wicker (R-Miss.) and Bob Corker (R-Tenn.) on Tuesday indicated that they and several other Senate Republicans will vote against a motion to proceed to a resolution authorizing military operations in Libya, in protest of the lack of progress on a debt ceiling agreement.

This was announced when Wicker took to the Senate floor Tuesday afternoon to complain that while the Senate has canceled its schedule recess this week, it does not appear to be doing any work to resolve the debt-ceiling fight.

"And for that reason, I want to announce at this point that I will be voting 'no' this afternoon on the motion to invoke cloture on the motion to proceed to a debate on Libya," Wicker said.

The Senate will take up a measure to authorize military force in Libya for up to one year.

The U.S. military could shed its troop-intensive counterinsurgency approach in Afghanistan as more and more American forces are brought home, a top commander said Tuesday.

President Obama inserted an additional 33,000 troops to Afghanistan last year, a move military commanders say helped create progress by providing an ample level of troops for a counterinsurgency.

But when Obama last week announced those troops will all be out of that nation by next September, lawmakers and military experts began to question whether fewer troops would hinder the counterinsurgency approach.

Freshman Rep. Vicky Hartzler (R-Mo.) and 38 other members of the House — mostly Republicans — introduced legislation last week that would deny burial rights to U.S. veterans found guilty of sexual abuse against children.

Hartzler said she introduced her Hallowed Grounds Act after learning that some veterans who are guilty of sexual abuse against children are still buried with full military honors in veterans and national cemeteries.

The vote is a rebuke to President Obama on the Libya mission; chamber now debating whether to limiting funding.

Members of the House on Friday were already discussing a more serious step to cut off all funding for military operations in Libya, even as they debated two Libya bills that some criticized as too weak.

Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio) said on the floor that when the House returns in July, he and Rep. Justin Amash (R-Mich.) will propose an amendment to the Defense Department Appropriations Act that cuts off all funding for Libya operations.

The House is debating two resolutions on Libya: one that would authorize the mission, and another that would cut funding.