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P. L. 111-383 (H. R. 6523), The Ike Skelton National
Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2011 (ISNDAA), was
introduced in the House of Representatives on December 15, 2010.
Two days later on December 17, 2010, it passed the House.
Five days later, on December 22, 2010, it passed the Senate with
an amendment―striking one title of the bill. On that same
day, shortly after 11 AM, the House agreed to the Senate
amendment. The bill was in Congress for about a week.
There was no conference, no conference report, and no
explanation of where sections of the bill came from.
However, in January 2011, a document appeared on the Library of
Congress website entitled Joint Explanatory Statement of the
Committees on Armed Services of the U.S. Senate and House of
Representatives (Explanatory Statement). This document
was created and modified in the afternoon of December 22, 2010―a
few hours after H. R. 6523 was enrolled.
Supporting the ISNDAA are 2 bills: Senate bill S. 3454, a defense
authorization bill that never passed the Senate and House bill H. R. 5136, a defense authorization bill
that actually passed the House. However, neither of
these bills is the basis for the Improve Acquisition
Act which is a major part of the ISNDAA. That "honor"
goes to H. R. 5013, the Implementing Management for
Performance and Related Reforms to Obtain Value in Every
Acquisition Act of 2010. H. R. 5013 did pass the House
with an earlier report explaining its sections. During
consideration of H. R. 5136, it was adopted as an amendment and
pasted to the end of H. R. 5136. Since the Improve
Acquisition Act was a last minute paste job, there is no history
in the report accompanying H. R. 5136. However there is
history in the report accompanying H. R. 5013. When you
read the sections of the Explanatory Statement, you will
note that it refers to the "Senate committee-reported bill" when
it identifies where the idea for the ISNDAA section
originated. Remember S. 3454 never passed the Senate.
From those pieces of legislation and their
accompanying reports, one can identify what members of the
armed services committees might have been thinking when H. R.
6523, S. 3454, H. R.
5136, and H. R. 5013, were being considered.
How To Use the NDAA
2010 Suite of Pages
The Contents page provides
links to H. R. 6523, H. R. 5136, H. R. 5013, and S. 3454.
Reports for the latter 3 bills are linked also. The
Explanatory Statement is attached also.
Wifcon.com's "sectional
analysis" pages provide the text of the sections of the ISNDAA
(H. R. 6523) at the top of the the left column with similar sections from the
other 3 bills below. The Explanatory
Statement section is shown at the top of the right column and explanatory sections of
reports supporting H. R. 5136, H. R. 5013, or S. 3454 under it.
Under the best of
circumstances, I recommend not trying to identify
congressional intent. However, the clear congressional
intent of the ISNDAA was for a lame duck Congress
to pass something quickly so it could head home for the
holidays. The ISNDAA was slapped together
at the end of the 111th Congress with only an Explanatory
Statement from the Armed Services Committees. Whatever
you consider the Explanatory Statement to be, it is a
good roadmap for following the ISNDAA
Additional sections,
including Legislative Provision Not Adopted, and
documentation of the ISNDAA may be added at a later date as more
information is identified.
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