:quality(70)/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/mco/KPPNUUSMWFG63BXBKFJXFWXFVY.jpg)
Wednesday will be a pivotal day for the Pentagon’s fiscal 2023 budget, with a pair of key House committees drafting their spending plans for military operations next year.
The House Appropriations Committee will hold a mark up of its defense appropriations plan at the same time the House Armed Services Committee holds its negotiations on the annual defense authorization bill.
Top line spending is likely to be the most contentious issue at both events. Democratic leaders in the House have so far stuck with President Joe Biden’s plan for a 4% increase in defense spending next year, but a coalition of centrist Democrats and Republicans have been arguing for increased spending to counter inflation costs.
The appropriations committee work is expected to take a few hours, but the armed services committee work will likely stretch into Thursday morning. In the last 10 years, work on crafting the authorization bill (which covers a host of policy and spending issues), has only finished before midnight twice, and not once before 11:40 p.m.
House Armed Services — 10 a.m. — 2118 Rayburn
Defense authorization bill
Committee members will mark up their draft of the annual defense authorization bill.
House Appropriations — 10 a.m. — 1100 Longworth
Defense appropriations
The full committee will mark up its draft of the fiscal 2023 defense appropriations bill.
House Veterans’ Affairs — 10 a.m. — Visitors Center H210
Pending legislation
The subcommittee on health will consider several pending bills.
House Foreign Affairs — 2 p.m. — 2172 Rayburn
Regional security cooperation
State Department officials will testify on U.S. objectives in the Middle East and North Africa.
Senate Foreign Relations — 2:45 p.m. — 419 Dirksen
NATO additions
State Department officials will discuss the proposed accession of Sweden and Finland to NATO.
House Appropriations — 5 p.m. — 2359 Rayburn
State Department appropriations
The subcommittee on foriegn operations will consider its draft of the State Department’s fiscal 2023 budget.
Thursday, June 23
Senate Foreign Relations — 9:30 a.m. — 419 Dirksen
Pending nominations
The committee will consider several pending nominations.
House Appropriations — 10 a.m. — 1100 Longworth
Veterans Affairs appropriations
The full committee will mark up its draft of the fiscal 2023 appropriations bill for the Department of Veterans Affairs.
Leo covers Congress, Veterans Affairs and the White House for Military Times. He has covered Washington, D.C. since 2004, focusing on military personnel and veterans policies. His work has earned numerous honors, including a 2009 Polk award, a 2010 National Headliner Award, the IAVA Leadership in Journalism award and the VFW News Media award.