House votes to give Taiwan 66 F-16 fighter aircraft

Details follow here on voice-approved NDAA amendments:

• Rep. Corrine Brown (D-Fla), authorizes the Corp of Engineers to accept non-federal funds and use such funds to construct the project for navigation, Jacksonville Harbor, Duval County, Florida.

• Rep. Joe Baca (D-Calif.), authorizes the US geological survey to conduct a study of water resources and perchlorate contamination in the Rialto-Colton Basin, which is near a former DoD installation in California’s Inland Empire.

• Rep. Kay Granger (R-Texas), provides Taiwan with critically needed United States-built multirole fighter aircraft to strengthen its self defense capability against the increasing military threat from China.

{mosads}• Rep. Andre Carson (D-Ind.), requires the DoD to conduct a survey of all service members deployed since September 11, 2001, to determine what personal safety equipment (such as ballistic eyewear and body armor) was not provided by the military and what equipment was purchased by the service member, family, or someone else. The amendment would also require that an assessment to be provided to Congress describing how to ensure that all service members receive the safety equipment they need in future conflicts.

• Rep. Adam Smith (D-Wash.), authorizes the Secretary of a given military department to enter into agreements with Indian Tribes for land management associated with military installations and state-owned National Guard installations. The amendment would define “Indian Tribes” as “any Indian tribe, band, nation, or other organized group or community, including any Alaska Native village or regional or village corporation as defined in or established pursuant to the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act which is recognized as eligible for the special programs and services provided by the United States.”

• Rep. Chip Cravaack (R-Minn.), expresses the sense of Congress that fighter wings performing the 24-hour Aerospace Control Alert missions provide an essential service in defending the sovereign airspace of the United States in the aftermath of the terrorist attacks upon the United States on September 11, 2001.

• Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-Md.), includes the U.S. Coast Guard in sections of the bill which require the Secretary of Defense to develop plans to expand diversity and prevent and track hazing.

• Rep. Michael Thompson (D-Calif.), provides for the advancement of Brigadier General Charles E. Yeager, United States Air Force (Retired), on the retired list, to the rank of Major General, without the accrual of any additional benefits.

• Smith, establishes a Sexual Assault Oversight Council to provide independent oversight of the Department of Defense as it implements sexual assault policies and laws to prevent and prosecute sexual assault in the Armed Forces.

• Rep. Lee Terry (R-Neb.), authorizes members of the Armed Forces not in uniform and veterans to render a military salute during the recitation of the Pledge of Allegiance.

• Carson, requires the DoD provide mid-deployment mental health screenings to service members deployed in combat zones, once during each 180-day period during which a member is deployed.

• Rep. Sheila Jackson-Lee (D-Texas), requires the Office of Health at the DoD to work in collaboration with the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to identify specific genetic and molecular targets and biomarkers for triple negative breast cancer; and to provide information useful in biomarker selection, drug discovery, and clinical trials design that will enable both triple negative breast cancer patients to be identified earlier in their diagnosis and the development of multiple targeted therapies for the disease.

• Rep. David Rivera (R-Fla.), prohibits any procurement contracts with any persons that have business operations with a state sponsor of terrorism.

• Rep. Pat Meehan (R-Pa.), requires the Department of State to make a determination on whether Boko Haram meets the criteria to be designated a Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO). The amendment would require the Secretary of State to submit a report that describes why Boko Haram does not meet the qualifications outlined by law.

• Rep. Michael Pompeo (R-Colo.), expresses the sense of Congress on recognizing air mobility command on its 20th Anniversary.

• Rep. Ben Quayle (R-Ariz.), adds a new element at the end of Section 2867 (d)(1) of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2012 that the report also include progress updates on consolidation goals and cost savings achieved during the preceding fiscal year consistent with the framework outlined by the July 2011 GAO report to Congress, entitled “Data Center Consolidation Agencies Need to Complete Inventories and Plans to Achieve Expected Savings” (GAO–11–565).

• Jackson Lee (D-TX), requires the Secretary of Defense, prior to the awarding defense contracts to private contractors, to conduct an assessment to determine whether the DoD has carried out sufficient outreach programs to assist minority and women-owned small business.

• Rep. Niki Tsongas (D-Mass.), provides that the Secretary of the Air Force may enter into discussions with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology for a project to improve and modernize the Lincoln Laboratory complex at Hanscom Air Force Base, Massachusetts, a Federally Funded Research and Development Center (FFRDC). The amendment also would provide that nothing in the provision provides construction authorities beyond those existing under current law.

• Cummings, requires notification to Congress and publication on the Internet of information pertaining to the issuance of waivers to allow non-Jones Act qualified vessels to carry cargo between points in the United States.

Two others amendments were disposed of earlier in the evening:

• Rep. Rob Wittman (R-Va.), requires the Secretary of the Army to establish a chain of command for the Army National Military Cemeteries, to include a military officer in charge who would replace the current civilian director upon the termination of his term. Accepted voice vote.

• Rep. Steve Stivers (R-Ohio), authorizes the Secretary of the Army to create a Place of Remembrance at Arlington National Cemetery for the interment of cremated fragments of the remains of members of the Armed Forces who died in conflicts past and future. Withdrawn.