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Defense Authorization Passed by Senate

On October 1, the Senate approved, 92-3, the FY2008 Defense authorization bill (H.R. 1585). A House-Senate conference committee will meet to reconcile the differences in the two versions of the bill. The Senate began its reconsideration of the bill on September 17 (see The Source, 9/21/07) and continued debating the measure during the week of September 24 (see The Source, 9/28/07).

During debate on the measure, the Senate approved the following amendments:

  • an amendment by Sen. Patty Murray (D-WA) that would authorize $5 million each year for FY2008-2011 to assist school districts serving large numbers of military dependent children, by unanimous consent;
  • an amendment by Sen. Russ Feingold (D-WI) that would allow the Office of Personnel Management and the Department of Labor to create voluntary programs for government and private employees to use sick or other available leave to care for the dependents of active duty servicemembers, by unanimous consent; and
  • an amendment by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) that would require the secretary of Defense to create a pilot program to assess family preparedness and reintegration outreach programs for members of the Armed Forces and their families, including mental health and financial services counseling programs, suicide prevention programs, and domestic violence awareness and prevention programs, by unanimous consent