Time Is Really Running Out: The 2006 defense appropriations spending bill moved another notch, while the authorization bill is where?. The Senate appropriations committee on Wednesday advanced the 2006 defense spending measure to the Senate floor. (DR, 09/28/05) Meanwhile, Sen. John Warner (R-Va.) and Sen. Carl Levin (D-Mich.) said Wednesday that one option under consideration was to push the authorization measure through as an amendment to the appropriations bill. Appropriators appear receptive, but they want some of the fat trimmed off first. The 2006 authorization bill has about 200 amendments-in-waiting.
A new report from the Government Accountability Office calls for the Pentagon’s Chief Technology Officer to have budget certification authority over the military services’ research and development accounts—a move the services say would add a burdensome and unnecessary layer of bureaucracy.
