“By adding unrequested funding for defense, the House of
Representatives departs from the bipartisan understanding reached a year ago,”
the Office of Management and Budget wrote in a statement of administration
policy.

{mosads}The Obama administration objected to other changes that
were made in the defense spending bill, but it did not threaten to veto the
legislation over them.

The White House issued a similar veto threat regarding the defense
authorization bill that passed the full House already, though that threat
also got into detainee policy and missile defense.

In addition to the complaints over the overall size of the
bill, the administration laid out issues with several of the funding changes
the Appropriations Committee made.

In particular, the administration objected to the committee
stopping the retirement of aircraft that the Pentagon included in its budget
this year. Those included the Global Hawk Block 30 drone, C-27J cargo planes
and the C-23 aircraft.

The administration also complained that the committee eliminated
funding for the Medium Extended Air Defense System (MEADS), blocked proposed increases
to TRICARE fees, and limited funds for transferring terror detainees.

The House Rules Committee was approving the rule for the defense appropriations bill Thursday, and it’s expected to be taken up in the
full House in July when Congress returns from recess.