The US House and Senate Armed Services Committees said on Tuesday a version of the National Defence Authorisation Act (NDAA), a sweeping defense policy bill, would go before Congress this week, with $5bn of cuts reflecting a budget deal passed last week.
The adjustments to the $600bn measure affect more than 100 programmes, the committee’s Republican and Democratic leaders said in a statement.
But there is no change to language related to the controversial military prison at Guantanamo Bay. The bill contains strict limits on transfers from the detention centre that could prevent President Barack Obama from keeping his promise to close it.
Obama vetoed the NDAA last month because of the way it used war funds to let the Department of Defence avoid mandatory spending cuts, and the Guantanamo restrictions.
The spending concerns were addressed in the two-year budget deal Obama signed into law on Monday, which also lifted the threat of a default on government debt through the end of his presidency.
But the White House has not yet said whether Obama would veto the new version of the defence policy bill because of the Guantanamo language, if it is passed in Congress. Lawmakers had been expected to sustain Obama’s veto of the earlier version of the bill but it is not clear whether they would back a veto mainly over Guantanamo.
The House is expected to vote on the bill by Thursday.
