House bill · 114th Congress · Did not become law

Defending Our Defenders Act

H.R. 3616Introduced Sep 25, 2015Policy area: Armed Forces and National Security

Where it went

IntroducedSep 25, 2015
Committee action—
Passed House—
Passed Senate—
To the President—
Became law—

Latest action: Sep 25, 2015 — Referred to the Committee on Armed Services, and in addition to the Committee on Ways and Means, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned.

Cost and committee reports

Official records Congress.gov attaches to H.R. 3616.

Constitutional authority statementThe sponsor’s statement of where the Constitution gives Congress the power to pass this bill. Statement by Mr. FORBES, as printed in the Congressional Record (Vol. 161, No. 139, September 25, 2015, Page H6260):
Article I, Section 9, Clause 7, and Article 1, Section 8, Clause 1.
Source: Congress.gov, Congressional Record September 25, 2015 ↗
Evidence
Field in the Congress.gov record
constitutionalAuthorityStatementText
Statement length
67 characters
Congress.gov bill record
H.R. 3616, 114th Congress
Congress.gov API record
https://api.congress.gov/v3/bill/114/hr/3616
Record last updated by Congress.gov
August 12, 2025
PORKER copy retrieved
September 22, 2026
Stored copy, SHA-256 of the file
906f9a1d426c1468f1cd028234a5b083a10f9c0bae1e6621854f55f25c8ca674
PORKER shows the statement exactly as printed, with the page markup removed. It is the sponsor’s claim; it is not a legal finding.

Congress.gov’s record for this bill does not list a CBO cost estimate or a committee report (as of August 12, 2025). Not every bill gets one.

Sent to: Armed Services Committee, Ways and Means CommitteeBills with a CBO estimate Bills with a committee report See it in the Data Web

From the Congress.gov bill record for H.R. 3616, last updated August 12, 2025. PORKER’s copy was retrieved September 22, 2026 and is refreshed nightly. Open “Evidence” on any line for the record, field and file fingerprint.

Vote results

No recorded roll-call votes on this bill in PORKER’s records (voice votes and unanimous consent are not roll calls; roll-call records start in 2011).

Cosponsors

9 cosponsors — 8 Republicans, 1 Democrat

1 of 9 cosponsors (11%) are from the other party.

Brad Ashford (D-NE), Rob Bishop (R-UT), Paul Cook (R-CA), Walter Jones (R-NC), Jeff Miller (R-FL), Richard Nugent (R-FL), David Rouzer (R-NC), Michael Turner (R-OH), Robert Wittman (R-VA).

More from the sponsor

Other 114th Congress bills sponsored by Rep. J. Forbes.

Sponsor’s state and district

Virginia in Congress · VA-4 district

Open in Bill Explorer →

Data as of Sep 23, 2026 · bill record checked by PORKER from Congress.gov · votes from Senate.gov and the House Clerk. PORKER is non-partisan.