WASHINGTON — The House overwhelmingly passed a sweeping, $638 billion defense bill Friday that imposes new punishments on members of the armed services found guilty of rape or sexual assault as outrage about the crisis in the military has galvanized Congress.




Shocking statistics that as many as 26,000 military members may have been sexually assaulted last year pushed lawmakers to tackle the growing problem of sexual assault. The House bill would require a mandatory minimum sentence of two years in prison for a member of the armed services convicted of rape or sexual assault in a military court.



What's in the bill

• Guantanamo Bay: The House bill rejects President Barack Obama's latest plea to shutter the military-run prison in Cuba and bars the administration from transferring its detainees to the United States or to a foreign country such as Yemen.

• Missile defense: The bill provides $140 million as a down payment for a new missile defense site on the East Coast to expand the country's defenses from a potential ballistic missile attack by Iran.

• Sexual assault: The bill requires a mandatory minimum sentence of two years in prison for a member of the armed services convicted of rape or sexual assault in a military court, and it would strip military commanders of the power to overturn convictions of rape and sexual assault.

• Afghanistan: The bill adds $5 billion to the administration's budget request of roughly $80 billion for Afghanistan war costs to offset the negative impact of the automatic spending cuts on military readiness. The bill also would block the U.S. from spending $2.6 billion to train and equip Afghan security forces until the Defense and State departments have certified to Congress that the two countries have signed an agreement governing the presence of U.S. forces there after the current combat mission ends in 2014.

• Camouflage: The bill would require all branches of the U.S. military to share the same camouflage uniforms — instead of the 10 camouflage patterns in use today. Denver Post wire services