Members of the Senate and House Armed Services Committees announced this week that they reached a deal on the National Defense Authorization Act, an annual bill that outlines military spending for the 2014 fiscal year. According to ABC News, the bill grants the Department of Defense $552 billion for national defense spending and an additional $81 billion for overseas operations.
Legislators were pressured to resolve the bill before leaving for winter recess, the news source reported. For the bill to pass before the end of the year, the House needs to vote on the bill later this week and the Senate would have to open the floor for a vote next week.
"I wish we had time for a more full debate on this. But we're here at this point saying we are where we are and we ran out of time," Rep. Buck McKeon, chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, told the news outlet. "We owe the men and women in uniform and our national security to finish up this bill."
According to The Huffington Post, the NDAA compromise would allow the executive branch to close Guantanamo Bay and transfer detainees to prisons in the U.S.