House, Senate Negotiators Agree on Def. Bill, Unclear if WH Will veto

[Conservative]

House, Senate Negotiators Agree on Defense Bill, Unclear if White House Will Hold Firm on Veto Threat

House and Senate negotiators late Monday agreed to a sweeping $662 billion defense bill that requires military custody for terrorism suspects linked to Al Qaeda, including those captured within the U.S., and indefinite detention without trial for some suspects.

President Barack Obama and his national security team had appealed to lawmakers for last-minute changes to the bill to give the executive branch greater flexibility on whether to treat suspected terrorists as prisoners of war or criminals. Facing a White House veto threat, leaders of the Armed Services Committees said they had added language on national security waivers and other slight revisions that they hoped would ensure administration support.

Overall, the bill would authorize $662 billion for military personnel, weapons systems, national security programs in the Energy Department, and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan in the fiscal year that began Oct. 1. Reflecting a period of austerity and a winding down of decade-old conflicts, the bill is $27 billion less than Obama requested and $43 billion less than Congress gave the Pentagon for the year before.

Sounds like a good start to me.

The bill would require that the military take custody of a suspect deemed to be a member of Al Qaeda or its affiliates and who is involved in plotting or committing attacks on the United States, with an exemption for U.S. citizens.

As I stated REPEATEDLY in other threads... US Citizens would NOT be able to be held without trial, indefinitely, etc., as so many here claimed.

 

[Conservative]

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