Appropriations for FY1999: Defense (CRS Report for Congress)
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| Release Date |
Dec. 18, 1998 |
| Report Number |
98-205 |
| Report Type |
Report |
| Authors |
Stephen Daggett, Foreign Affairs and National Defense Division |
| Source Agency |
Congressional Research Service |
Summary:
Congress completed action on FY1999 defense authorization and appropriations bills on October
1. The House approved the conference report on the defense authorization bill ( H.R. 3616 ) on September 24 and the Senate on October 1. The President signed the bill into law ( P.L.
105-261 ) on October 17. The House approved the conference report on the defense appropriations
bill (H.R. 4103) on September 28 and the Senate on September 29. The President signed the
bill into
law ( P.L. 105-262 ) on October 17, as well. Later Congress approved additional funding for defense
programs in the FY1999 Omnibus Consolidated and Emergency Supplemental Appropriations Act
( H.R. 4328 , P.L. 105-277 ), which the House approved on October 20 and the Senate
on October 21, and which the President signed later that day.
The authorization conference agreement resolved a number of contentious issues, include
restrictions on technology transfers to China in the House bill; gender-integrated basic training,
which the House wanted to restrict, while the Senate supported the current system; restrictions on
base consolidation included in the Senate bill; options for producing tritium for nuclear weapons;
and a few major weapons issues, including funding for the Theater High Altitude Area Defense
(THAAD) system and Senate provisions requiring more testing of the F-22 fighter.
The appropriations conference decided to leave a key issue -- funding for Bosnia -- for action
in later legislation. The Senate-passed appropriations bill included $1.9 billion in emergency
funding for Bosnia, as the Administration had requested, but the House bill did not. Funding for
Bosnia was subsequently provided in a supplemental appropriations measure approved as part of the
Omnibus Appropriations bill. The supplemental measure also included funding for Year 2000
(Y2K) fixes in the Defense Department, for military readiness, for drug interdiction, for missile
defense, and for counter-terrorism activities.
Other key issues that Congress addressed this year include base closures, Bosnia policy, and
congressional war powers. In action on the defense authorization bill, neither the House nor the
Senate agreed to an Administration request to approve a new round of military base closures, so the
issue has been put off for renewed debate next year. Both the House and the Senate also debated the
U.S. mission in Bosnia. Neither House approved any binding restrictions on the mission, though the
authorization conference agreement includes a sense of the Congress statement urging the President
to reduce troops levels. The House-passed appropriations bill included a war powers-related
provision that would prohibit the expenditure of funds for offensive military actions without advance
congressional approval, while the Senate rejected the same language. The Administration threatened
a veto if that provision was not removed in conference, and the conference agreement did not to
include the measure.
