WASHINGTON — Lawmakers are cramming weeks worth of defense budget work into a few days before the July 4th recess, setting up several long days for military watchers on Capitol Hill.

On Monday night, in a closed session, the House Appropriations Committee’s defense panel will mark up its first draft of the annual military appropriations bill. On Wednesday, the Senate Armed Services committee will do the same with the annual authorization bill, while the House will hold a marathon all-day, all-night session for their open draft of the authorization act.

Typically, those three events are separated by several weeks of deliberations and negotiations. But with the White House budget delivery in late May, months behind the normal operating schedule, congressional committees are scrambling to catch up and finish work before the extended August recess.

In the same spirit, the Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee plans to pass their appeals reform legislation on Wednesday at a time still to be announced, and the House Veterans’ Affairs Committee will hold a series of hearings on other pending legislation.

When lawmakers return from the July 4th week-long break, they’ll have just three weeks of legislative time left on the schedule for the summer.

Monday 

Senate Armed Services — 3 p.m. — Russell 232A
Closed NDAA markup
The subcommittee on strategic forces will hold a closed business meeting to markup its portions of the annual defense authorization bill.

Senate Armed Services — 3:30 p.m. — Russell 232A
Closed NDAA markup
The subcommittee on seapower will hold a closed business meeting to markup its portions of the annual defense authorization bill.

Senate Armed Services — 4 p.m. — Russell 232A
Closed NDAA markup
The subcommittee on airland will hold a closed business meeting to markup its portions of the annual defense authorization bill.

Senate Armed Services — 4:30 p.m. — Russell 232A
Closed NDAA markup
The subcommittee on readiness will hold a closed business meeting to markup its portions of the annual defense authorization bill.

Senate Armed Services — 5:40 p.m. — Russell 232A
Closed NDAA markup
The subcommittee on cybersecurity will hold a closed business meeting to markup its portions of the annual defense authorization bill.

House Appropriations — 7 p.m. — Capitol H140
Closed defense markup
The committee will hold a closed session to mark up the annual defense appropriations measure.

Tuesday

Senate Armed Services — 6:30 a.m. — Dirksen G50
NDAA emerging threats markup
The subcommittee on emerging threats will hold an open session to markup its portions of the annual defense authorization bill.

Senate Armed Services — 7 a.m. — Russell 232A
Closed NDAA markup
The subcommittee on personnel will hold an open session to markup its portions of the annual defense authorization bill.

Senate Armed Services — 7:30 a.m. — Russell 222
Closed NDAA markup
The full committee will hold a closed meeting to markup the full annual defense authorization bill.

House Foreign Affairs — 2 p.m. — Rayburn 2172
Terrorism
Outside experts will testify before the committee on terrorist threats facing Europe.

Wednesday

Senate Armed Services — 7 a.m. — Russell 222
Closed NDAA markup
The full committee will hold a closed meeting to markup the full annual defense authorization bill.

House Armed Services — 10 a.m. — Rayburn 2118
NDAA markup
The full committee will markup the annual defense authorization bill.

House Foreign Affairs — 10 a.m. — Rayburn 2172
United Nations
Nikki Haley, the U.S. representative to the United Nations, will testify before the committee on current U.S. relations with the organization.

Thursday

Senate Armed Services — 9:30 a.m. — Russell 222
Closed NDAA markup
The full committee will hold a closed meeting to markup the full annual defense authorization bill.

House Veterans’ Affairs — 10 a.m. — Cannon 334
Pending legislation
The subcommittee on oversight will mark up several pending bills, including a pair on business opportunities for veterans.

House Veterans’ Affairs — 2 p.m. — Cannon 334
Pending legislation
The subcommittee on economic opportunity will mark up several pending bills, including one on veterans state residency issues.

 
Leo Shane III covers Congress, Veterans Affairs and the White House for Military Times. He can be reached at lshane@militarytimes.com.

Leo covers Congress, Veterans Affairs and the White House for Military Times. He has covered Washington, D.C. since 2004, focusing on military personnel and veterans policies. His work has earned numerous honors, including a 2009 Polk award, a 2010 National Headliner Award, the IAVA Leadership in Journalism award and the VFW News Media award.

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