Fact Sheet: Selected Highlights of H.R. 3979, the Carl Levin and Howard “Buck” McKeon National Defense Authorization Act for FY2015

Summary

Following are selected highlights of S. 1847, the version of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for FY2015, agreed to on December 2, 2014, by negotiators for the House and Senate Armed Services Committees.

On May 22, 2014, by a vote of 325-98, the House passed H.R. 4435, a version of the FY2015 NDAA that had been reported by the House Armed Services Committee. On the same day, the Senate Armed Services Committee reported S. 2410, its version of the FY2015 NDAA. To expedite final action on the bill (since the Senate did not take up S. 2410), negotiators from the House and Senate drafted a compromise version of the FY2015 NDAA. For procedural reasons, this compromise version has been incorporated into the conference report on H.R. 3979, an unrelated bill.

This CRS Fact Sheet, based on the draft explanatory statement of House and Senate negotiators, is intended as a time-urgent expedient to offer Members the best available information about the bill pending update of CRS Report R43788, Defense: FY2015 Authorization and Appropriations, by Pat Towell.