House Moves To Ease Restrictions On Satellite Exports

The House version of the 2013 Defense Authorization bill eases export restrictions on commercial satellites, mandates F-16 sales to Taiwan and shows that the chamber is determined to exempt U.S. defense spending from budget constraints. The House bill, passed May 18, 299-120, adopted a sequester workaround for defense spending. The amendment from Scott Rigell (R-Va.) would pay for defense spending with cuts elsewhere in the federal budget, as defined by the House’s budget resolution, and would exempt defense spending from any so-called sequestration cuts. The House also rejected an amendment to cut the bill $8 billion to meet spending caps mandated by the Budget Control Act (BCA) ...