The Senate Armed Services Committee will mark up its annual defense policy bill the week of June 8, mostly in closed sessions, its leaders announced Tuesday.

The Military Personnel Subcommittee set an open markup June 9 for its section of the National Defense Authorization Act, and the other subcommittee markups will be closed, per the panel’s custom. The full committee markup is set for June 10, said SASC Chairman Jim Inhofe, R-Okla., and ranking member Jack Reed, D-R.I.

The COVID-19 pandemic has forced the committee to practice social distancing at hearings and hold some closed teleconferences with Pentagon leaders instead of in-person meetings, but Inhofe said Tuesday the NDAA would proceed, as it has for 59 years.

“The pandemic just makes it all the more important that we care for our service members and their families, maintain peak readiness and continue modernizing and preparing for the future — just as the National Defense Strategy urges,” Inhofe said in a statement. “We’ve faced some unique challenges getting to markup this year, but, together with Senator Reed and the entire Armed Services Committee, in our traditional, bipartisan fashion, I am eager to move this year’s NDAA closer to enactment for the 60th straight year.”

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