Defense News reports that “a key US senator believes Congress will pass a Pentagon policy bill this year, but he cast further doubt on the upper chamber ever taking up its own version of the legislation.”  

“The Senate last year failed to pass its own National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), forcing the chambers’ Armed Services committees to push through a version negotiated behind closed doors.”  

“SASC Chairman Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich., speaking to reporters here Wednesday morning, would not rule out the possibility of a repeat during a year-ending lame duck session.”  

“’We’re gonna have an authorization bill,’ Levin said.”  

National Defense Magazine adds: “There is enough unhappiness about sequestration on both sides of the aisle to motivate members to support some form of repeal, he said. ‘We have done real damage in terms of cutting discretionary spending in this country.’”  

“Any compromise will have to spare both defense and nondefense, he said. Republicans, however, will have a tough time rounding up support in their ranks for nondefense cuts, Levin noted. It will be up to the leadership to make the case that undoing sequestration could be a political winner in these times of war when the public tends to support military spending. If the GOP wins the Senate in November and controls Congress for the remainder of the Obama administration, said Levin, it will be up to its leaders to figure out how they can ‘responsibly’ get rid of sequestration without raising the national debt.”