On May 24, the Senate Armed Services Committee approved, by voice vote, the FY2008 Defense Authorization bill (S. 567). The House approved its version of the bill (H.R. 1585) on May 17 (see The Source, 5/18/07).
According to the committee’s press release, S. 567, sponsored by Chair Carl Levin (D-MI), would authorize $648.8 billion for national defense in FY2008: $519 billion for the Defense and Energy Departments and $129.8 billion for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Like the House version of the bill, S. 567 would authorize a 3.5 percent pay increase for all uniformed service personnel. However, the bill would modify the death gratuity statute to allow service members to designate any person as the beneficiary, in contrast to the House version, which would extend the authority for service members to choose a beneficiary to receive up to 50 percent of the death gratuity. Under S. 567, the Survivor Benefit Plan (SBP) would be modified to allow guardians or caretakers of dependent children to receive SBP benefits.
The committee’s bill summary states that the measure would direct the Government Accountability Office “to conduct a review of the policies and procedures of the military departments for the prevention of, and response to, sexual assaults involving members of the armed forces, including an assessment of the adequacy of mental health resources available to victims of sexual assault.” S. 567 would direct the Department of Defense (DoD) to address Army findings indicating that multiple and lengthy deployments in Iraq lead to increased marital and mental health problems, and would establish a Family Readiness Council to improve support and coordination for family readiness programs.
The committee summary notes that the administration’s proposal to increase health care fees for military retirees and their dependents under the military health care plan, TRICARE, was rejected. The summary states, “The proposed increase is premature. An increase, if any, in TRICARE program cost sharing should be made only on the basis of the forthcoming comprehensive analyses required by Congress in last year’s bill, including the report of the Task Force on the Future of Military Health Care and the Comptroller General’s audit of DoD health care costs and cost saving measures.”
The six Senate Armed Services subcommittees approved their portions of the FY2008 defense authorization bill (S. 567) earlier this week.
The full Senate is expected to consider the bill in late June.
