LegiStorm

Summary:

House and the Senate action on annual FY2001 defense funding was completed in December when Congress approved the FY2001 omnibus appropriations bill. In all, Congress provided about $310.0 billion for national defense, including $287.8 billion in the Department of Defense Appropriations bill. The national defense total is about $4.7 billion above the Administration's request. The conference agreement on the FY2001 Labor-HHS-Education Appropriations/Omnibus appropriations bill, H.R. 4577 , approved in the House and Senate on December 15, provides some additional FY2001 funds for the Department of Defense, including $150 million to repair the USS Cole, $100 million for classified programs related to operations overseas, and $43.5 million for military construction. Section 1403 of the bill also makes an across-the-board cut of 0.22% in all FY2001 discretionary funds, including defense, though military personnel funding is exempted from the reduction. In all, this will reduce FY2001 defense funding by $520 million. On October 11, the House approved an a conference agreement on the FY2001 defense authorization bill, H.R. 4205 , by a vote of 382-31. The Senate approved the agreement on October 12 by a vote of 90-3. The President signed the bill into law on October 30 ( P.L. 106-398 ). A conference agreement on the defense appropriations bill, H.R. 4576 , was approved in the House on July 19 and in the Senate on July 27, and the President signed the bill on August 9 ( P.L. 106-259 ). Earlier the House and the Senate approved a conference agreement on the FY2001 military construction appropriations bill, H.R. 4425 , and the President signed the measure into law on July 13 ( P.L. 106-246 ). This bill includes supplemental appropriations for FY2000 military operations in Kosovo and Colombia, for increased fuel and medical care costs, and for some other defense programs. In action on key issues, authorization conferees agreed to (1) provide a permanent guarantee of health care for Medicare-eligible military retirees that was included in the Senate bill, but that expired after two years; (2) provide compensation for workers made ill by exposure to toxic materials in the nation's nuclear weapons program; (3) drop a House-passed provision mandating troop withdrawals from Kosovo if allies do not meet burdensharing commitments (though the bill includes extensive reporting requirements); and (4) drop anti-hate crimes legislation that was attached to the Senate-passed bill. The retiree health care measure will make all military retirees eligible for health care through the military health care system. Conferees also agreed to a comprehensive retail and mail-order pharmacy benefit. According to preliminary CBO estimates, the bill's retiree health care provisions will cost $40 billion more over the next 10-years than benefits DOD currently provides. Several major weapons programs also received attention in this year's defense debate. The authorization and appropriations conference agreements reduced funding for the Joint Strike Fighter because of program delays. The authorization and appropriations bills also approved additional funding for the Army's "transformation" plan, including funds to equip a second medium-weight brigade in FY2001. The authorization conference, however, included a requirement that the Army carry out additional comparative testing of armored vehicles before outfitting a third brigade.