Accord expected Thursday on defense policy bill

Leaders of the House and Senate Armed Services panels aim to wrap up talks on a joint 2015 defense policy bill on Thursday so that they can approve the must-pass legislation this year, according to one of the chief negotiators.
 
“I’m hopeful that we wrap it up today. I think that’s what we’re shooting for,” retiring House Armed Services Committee Chairman Buck McKeon (R-Calif.) told The Hill.
 
{mosads}McKeon said that the “big four” — himself, the House panel’s top Democrat, Rep. Adam Smith (Wash.), Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Carl Levin (D-Mich.) and ranking member Sen. James Inhofe (R-Okla.) — met Wednesday night and “we got through about half” of the proposed bill.

The foursome will meet again Thursday, he added.
 
The full House passed its version of the defense policy blueprint in May. The Senate Armed Services Committee unveiled its draft of the 2015 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) that same month, but the measure did not make it to the floor before Congress adjourned for the midterms.
 
Congress has passed an NDAA for 52 consecutive years before the Dec. 31 deadline. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) last year waited until the last minute to bring the defense policy bill to the floor, enraging Republicans who complained that there wasn’t enough time to consider their amendments.
 
McKeon did not say when the legislation might get a vote.