Thread: H.R.4986 National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year

National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2008

To provide for the enactment of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2008, as previously enrolled, with certain modifications to address the foreign sovereign immunities provisions of title 28, United States Code, with respect to the attachment of property in certain judgements against Iraq, the lapse of statutory authorities for the payment of bonuses, special pays, and similar benefits for members of the uniformed services, and for other purposes.
Other Bill Titles
Short: Acquisition Improvement and Accountability Act of 2007 as passed senate.
Short: Acquisition Improvement and Accountability Act of 2007 as enacted.
Short: Military Construction Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2008 as passed senate.
Short: National Guard Empowerment Act of 2007 as passed senate.
Short: Wounded Warrior Act as passed senate.
Short: Wounded Warrior Act as enacted.
Short: National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2008 as introduced.
Short: National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2008 as passed house.
Short: Acquisition Improvement and Accountability Act of 2007 as passed house.
Short: National Guard Empowerment Act of 2007 as passed house.
Official: To provide for the enactment of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2008, as previously enrolled, with certain modifications to address the foreign sovereign immunities provisions of title 28, United States Code, with respect to the attachment of property in certain judgements against Iraq, the lapse of statutory authorities for the payment of bonuses, special pays, and similar benefits for members of the uniformed services, and for other purposes. as introduced.
Short: Wounded Warrior Act as reported to house.
Short: Refugee Crisis in Iraq Act of 2007 as reported to house.
Short: National Guard Empowerment Act of 2007 as reported to house.
Short: Military Construction Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2008 as reported to house.
Short: Acquisition Improvement and Accountability Act of 2007 as reported to house.
Short: National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2008 as reported to house.
Short: National Guard Empowerment Act of 2007 as enacted.
Short: Military Construction Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2008 as enacted.
Short: Refugee Crisis in Iraq Act of 2007 as enacted.
Short: Refugee Crisis in Iraq Act of 2007 as passed senate.
Short: National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2008 as enacted.
Short: Refugee Crisis in Iraq Act of 2007 as passed house.
Short: Wounded Warrior Act as passed house.
Short: National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2008 as passed senate.
Short: Military Construction Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2008 as passed house.
1/16/2008--Introduced.
National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2008 - Authorizes appropriations for the Department of Defense (DOD) for FY2008. Authorizes appropriations to DOD for: (1) procurement, including for aircraft, missiles, weapons and tracked combat vehicles, ammun more...ition, and shipbuilding and conversion; (2) research, development, test, and evaluation, including ballistic missile defense; (3) operation and maintenance, including for defense working capital funds, the Defense Health Program, drug interdiction and counter-drug activities, and environmental restoration; (4) active and reserve military personnel, including end strengths and the Armed Forces Retirement Home; (5) increased costs for military activities and military construction due to the global war on terror (6) the North Atlantic Treaty Organization Security Investment Program; (7) chemical demilitarization construction; and ( Guard and reserve forces facilities. Sets forth provisions or requirements concerning: (1) active and reserve military personnel policy; (2) military education and training; (3) military justice; (4) military pay and allowances; (5) retired pay and survivor benefits; (6) military health care; (7) acquisition policy and management; ( DOD organization and management, including intelligence-related matters; (9) counter-drug activities and matters related to homeland security; (10) civilian personnel matters; (11) matters relating to other nations; and (12) cooperative threat reduction with states of the former Soviet Union. Authorizes appropriations for FY2008 for military construction for the Armed Forces and defense agencies. Allows a victim of terrorism (or his or her representative) to seek money damages for an injury or death in a private cause of action in U.S. courts against a foreign state designated as a state sponsor of terrorism at the time of the injury or death if such injury or death was caused by an official, employee, or agent of such foreign state while acting within the scope of his or her employment. Permits the President to except the government of Iraq if: (1) the exception is in the interest of U.S. national security; (2) the waiver will promote the reconstruction of, the consolidation of democracy in, and the relations of the United States with, Iraq; and (3) Iraq continues to be a reliable ally of the United States and partner in combating acts of international terrorism.
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http://www.opencongress.org/bill/110-h4986/show

Presidential signing statement on Defense bill raises red flags

By Elizabeth Newell enewell@govexec.com March 13, 2008

Legal professionals testified this week before Congress that there might be some practical concerns with the signing statement issued by President Bush on the fiscal 2008 Defense authorization bill. The president's objections to certain provisions leave some in doubt about whether he will follow the letter of the law.
Gary Kepplinger, general counsel at the Government Accountability Office, said a recent report from the watchdog agency shows that in many cases, agencies do not implement provisions the president has objected to in signing statements. While the report did not prove a direct link between signing statements and failure to implement legislative mandates, Kepplinger said the trend could indicate that increased congressional oversight is necessary to ensure that agencies execute these provisions.
"In nine of 30 cases we examined, the agencies had failed to implement the statutory provisions according to the letters of the law," Kepplinger told the House Armed Services Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee on Tuesday. "Moreover, the president continues to issue signing statements, leaving Congress unsure if the president will carry out the laws as written."
President Bush's signing statement on the Defense authorization bill (H.R. 4986) stated that "provisions of the act, including sections 841, 846, 1079 and 1222, purport to impose requirements that could inhibit the president's ability to carry out his constitutional obligations to take care that the laws be faithfully executed, to protect national security, to supervise the executive branch and to execute his authority as commander in chief."
These mandates include:
Creation of a commission to investigate contracting abuse in Iraq and Afghanistan. Protection of whistleblowers who expose contracting abuse. Mandatory disclosure of certain categories of intelligence information to congressional committees. A prohibition on using appropriated funds to build permanent bases in Iraq.
Lawmakers said the signing statement was excessively broad, seeming to leave open the possibility that it could be applied to any provision in the massive authorization bill.
"There's no detail there at all about what that means for those four provisions; there's no guidance to this committee as the drafters of the Defense bill," said Rep. Vic Snyder, D-Ark., chairman of the subcommittee. "Also, the president clearly says provisions including these four, with the implication being perhaps there's another 500 provisions, another three provisions covered, it's not clear."
According to the legal professionals at the hearing, signing statements should be used to object to legislation on the grounds that it poses a constitutional threat. Several lawmakers and witnesses, however, said the Defense signing statement is too broad to flag any particular risk of unconstitutionality.
"In this particular signing statement, it's difficult to know exactly what the constitutional objections are," said Nicolas Rosenkranz, associate professor of law at Georgetown University Law Center. "I think it would be better if the president was more specific in his signing statements, but on the other hand, the president is interpreting these laws before any enforcement has happened, unlike courts. It is much harder to spot constitutional objections on the plain base of a statutory text."
Some witnesses and lawmakers said certain flagged provisions raise no potential constitutional issue at all.
"From a constitutional perspective, I think anybody would be hard-pressed to attack the constitutionality of the commission," said T.J. Halstead, legislative attorney at the Congressional Research Service's American Law Division. He said the commission established by the authorization bill to investigate in-theater contracting is "not an entity that wields any executive authority, so I don't see the potential conflict there. It doesn't even have subpoena authority, which well-established legislative commissions can have."
Several lawmakers said that while they respect the president's authority to issue signing statements, it might not be the best way to open avenues of communication between the executive and legislative branches. That apprehension was exacerbated when administration officials from the Justice and Defense Departments who were invited to testify at the hearing refused to do so.
"If the president believes his independent duties under the Constitution preclude him from implementing a law in the manner Congress prescribed, then I want to know," said Rep. Todd Akin, R-Mo., ranking member of the subcommittee. "What I do not want is an executive that does not communicate with the Congress."

http://www.govexec.com/dailyfed/0308/031308e1.htm

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