On January 16, the House approved, 369-46, the FY2008 Defense authorization bill (H.R. 4986). Congress approved a previous measure (H.R. 1585) in December (see The Source, 12/14/07), but the president vetoed it on December 28, 2007.
H.R. 4986 differs from H.R. 1585 in that it would not allow victims of terrorism to sue foreign governments that have been labeled as state sponsors of terrorism by the State Department. The bill also would make the full 3.5 percent pay raise for military personnel retroactive to January 1, 2008. Aside from those provisions, H.R. 4986 is identical to H.R. 1585.
