109-289 , on the same day. Also on September 29, the House approved a conference agreement on the FY2007 national defense authorization bill, H.R. The President signed the authorization bill into law, P.L. 109-364 , on October 17. The conference agreement on the appropriations bill provides $436.6 billion in new appropriations for defense, including $366.6 billion in regular appropriations and $70 billion in additional appropriations as a "bridge fund" for operations abroad and for some other purposes. The total of regular appropriations is $4 billion below the Administration request. But the White House threatened to veto the bill if it trimmed defense by more than $4 billion as a means of providing additional funds for non-security-related programs. The authorization bill also approves Senate amendments to the Insurrection Act to allow the President substantially expanded authority to used the armed forces in response to domestic emergencies, allows all off-duty reservists, except Federal employees with Federal health insurance, to enroll in the TRICARE health insurance program with a premium or 28% of the program's cost, and provides expanded authority for the Defense Department to use its funds for security assistance to foreign governments. 4939 , P.L. FY2007 Defense Appropriations

The House Appropriations Committee marked up its version of the FY2007 defense appropriations bill, H.R. Pay raise: The bill provided a pay raise of 2.7% for uniformed personnel, rather than the 2.2% requested. On some of the key weapons issues, the conference agreement,
rejects the Administration proposal to terminate C-17 cargo aircraft production after FY2007 and buys 22 aircraft, 12 in the regular bill and 10 in the "bridge fund" for operations abroad; approves a Navy proposal to provide partial funding for 2 DDG-1000 destroyers—formerly DD(X)—rather than providing full funding for just one ship as in the House bill; includes funds as requested for one T-AKE cargo ship and for 2 Littoral Combat Ships (LCS), rather than eliminating T-AKE funds and procuring only one LCS, as in the Senate bill; also adds $117 million, as in the Senate bill, for a T-AGS ocean survey ship; provides $3.4 billion for Army Future Combat system R&D, about $300 million below the request; slows F-35 Joint Strike Fighter procurement, with funds to buy 2 rather than the requested 5 aircraft, but does not eliminate FY2007 aircraft procurement funds as the Senate bill did, and also adds $340 million to maintain development of an alternative engine; provides full funding for F-22 procurement in FY2007, rather than partial funding as the Air Force requested, and also approves the requested multiyear procurement of F-22s, although the multiyear contract must also be approved in the defense authorization bill; follows the Senate bill by shifting funds for 4 EA-18Gs to procurement of 4 F/A-18s—the House had eliminated all funds for the 8 EA-18s requested and added funds for 12 F/A-18s; provides $70 million in R&D for a new refueling aircraft to replace KC-135 tankers, which will allow the Air Force to carry on a request for bids in what appears to be a very high-stakes, high-profile competition between Boeing and Airbus; adds $290 million for National Guard and reserve equipment; reduces funding for the Transformational Communication Satellite (TSAT) by $130 million, for the Space Radar by $80 million, and for the Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle by $80 million; for missile defense, cuts $48 million from the Kinetic Energy Interceptor, adds $200 million for the Ground-Based Missile Defense program, adds $85 million for sea-based missile defense, and adds $58 million for the U.S.-Israeli Arrow system. Conferees resolved the issue by dropping the House provision, but by including language in the report on the bill that requires the Army and Navy to rescind recent directives on prayer and return to earlier practices.
In the week before Congress adjourned for recess on September 30, the House and Senate passed conference agreements on both the FY2007 national defense authorization bill, H.R. 5122, and the FY2007 defense appropriations bill, H.R. 5631. The President signed the appropriations bill into law, P.L. 109-289, on September 29, and he signed the authorization bill into law, P.L. 109-364, on October 17.
The conference agreement on the appropriations bill provides $436.6 billion for defense, including $366.6 billion in regular appropriations and $70 billion in additional appropriations, mainly as a "bridge fund" for operations abroad. The total of regular appropriations is $4 billion below the Administration request. The Senate-passed bill provided $9 billion less than the request, which freed that much to add to non-defense appropriations bills. The White House , however, threatened to veto the defense bill if reduced defense by more than $4 billion.
In action on other key issues, the appropriations bill–
rejected the Administration proposal to terminate C-17 cargo aircraft production after FY2007 and provided funds for 22 aircraft; approved a Navy proposal to provide partial funding for 2 DDG-1000 destroyers—formerly the DD(X)—rather than providing full funding for just one ship as in the House bill; included funds as requested for one T-AKE cargo ship and for 2 Littoral Combat Ships (LCS), rather than eliminating T-AKE funds and procuring only one LCS, as in the Senate bill; and slowed F-35 Joint Strike Fighter procurement, with funds to buy 2 rather than the requested 5 aircraft, but did not eliminate FY2007 aircraft procurement funds as had the Senate bill.
On key defense policy issues, the authorization bill
provided a 2.2% pay raise, as requested, rather than or a 2.7% raise as in the House bill; approved access for all reservists, except Federal employees with Federal health insurance, to the DOD TRICARE medical insurance program with a premium of 28% of the cost of the program; rejected House language permitting chaplains to use denominational prayers according to each chaplain's conscience, but, instead, in report language, required the Army and Navy to rescind recent directives on prayer and return to earlier policies; agreed to a substantially amended Senate change in the Buy American Act to allow use of foreign-supplied specialty metals in U.S.-built systems; and did not agree to a Senate provision giving the head of the National Guard four-star rank and the authority to make independent budget requests, but assigned these issues to a commission on the reserves.