Defense
House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) on Thursday said closing tax loopholes “needs to come as part of overall tax reform,” potentially dealing a blow to Senate efforts to use such revenue to offset the elimination of scheduled defense cuts. – DEFCON Hill
The House will take up the Defense appropriations bill on the floor next week, House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) said Thursday. – DEFCON Hill
Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) warned Thursday that the Senate could fail to pass a defense authorization bill for the first time in 50 years. – DEFCON Hill
The Defense Department’s average costs to maintain a service member on active duty has jumped 50 percent since 2001, to $158,000 per year, with even faster growth predicted in the future, according to a Congressional Budget Office report that looks at long-range implications of the pending 2013 defense budget. – Military Times
Increasingly costly benefits for U.S. troops, if left unchecked, would force the military to shed so many war fighters that it would struggle to perform even its simplest missions. – DOTMIL
“Trust us.” That’s the last thing an irate Congress is ready to hear from the Air Force right now, but it’s the essence of what a three-star general told legislators today in a hearing on the administration’s hugely unpopular proposal to cut the Air National Guard. – AOL Defense
Under pressure from Congress, the Pentagon policy shop has rescinded its guidance that reports to Congress should not exceed 10 pages in length, bringing to an end a brief but heated exchange between Capitol Hill and the Pentagon. – Defense News
Weapons industry executives say they are growing slightly more hopeful that U.S. lawmakers may yet avert another $500 billion in budget cuts facing the Pentagon come January, on top of $487 billion in cuts already on the books. – Reuters
More than 25 countries have expressed interest in Lockheed Martin Corp’s F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, including Singapore, which is still evaluating its options, and South Korea, which is due to pick a winner in its fighter competition by year’s end, top Lockheed officials said on Wednesday. – Reuters
Law of the Sea Treaty
Nebraska Republican Sen. Mike Johanns’s decision on Thursday to oppose ratification of the controversial Law of the Sea Treaty has brought opponents of the international pact three votes away from scuttling the White House-backed deal. – DEFCON Hill
The War
A newly released Pentagon report says there is no evidence that officials at Guantanamo Bay used mind-altering drugs to interrogate prisoners, but lawyers for men held at the U.S. base in Cuba said Thursday that the findings still raise troubling questions. – Associated Press
