FY01 Defense Appropriations Conference Bill


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FY01 Defense Appropriations Conference Bill

Elizabeth Heeter and Steven Kosiak	Published 07/28/2000 Update

Both the House and Senate recently passed the fiscal (FY) 2001 Department of Defense (DoD) appropriations conference report. This bill would provide $289.6 billion for DoD, including $287.8 billion for FY 2001 and $1.8 billion for FY 2000. The measure, which was approved by the House 367-58 and by the Senate 90-10, will now be sent to the president for his signature. See table for comparison of selected weapon systems.

The bill adds about $3.3 billion to the president’s $284.5 billion request for FY 2001. When combined with the $8.6 billion contained in the FY 2001 military construction act, and defense-related funding in the energy and water and other appropriations bills under consideration, total national defense funding is likely to be roughly consistent with the level called for in the 2000 congressional budget resolution (CBR), which included a $4.6 billion plus-up for national defense.

House and Senate conferees have not yet finished work on the FY 2001 defense authorization bill.

Highlights
FY 2000 Supplemental
The bill contains $1.8 billion in contingent emergency supplemental funding for FY 2000. This comes on top of the $6.4 billion in emergency defense funding included in the $11.2 billion supplemental appropriations bill enacted earlier in July.¹ The latest supplemental measure includes $1.1 billion for contingency operations, $50 million for Navy military personnel, $529 million for unfunded readiness requirements and $100 million for the Defense Health Program. Because this funding is designate “emergency” it will not count against the FY 2000 caps on discretionary spending. The bill makes this FY 2000 supplemental funding available through the end of FY 2001, thereby making it functionally the same as funding appropriated for FY 2001. In short, it effectively provides a means for Congress to add another $1.8 billion to FY 2001, while technically staying under the FY 2001 level included in the CBR.

Procurement

The conference bill adds about $2.8 billion to the administration’s $60.2 billion procurement request. This plus-up is obscured by the bills shifting of $2.8 billion in C-17 funding to a new National Defense Airlift fund and $1 billion in chemical weapons destruction funding to a separate account.

R&D

Under the conference bill, R&D funding would rise to $40.9 billion, a substantial $3 billion increase to the $37.9 billion request and more than either the House’s proposed $40 billion or Senate’s proposed $39.5 billion funding levels.

National Missile Defense (NMD)

The conference bill would add $135 million to the administration’s $1.815 billion request for national missile defense. This is nearly the same as the $139 plus-up contained in the Senate appropriations bill. The House version of the bill would only have funded NMD at the requested level.

Joint Strike Fighter (JSF)
The administration requested $856.6 million for JSF R&D, including $596 million for engineering and manufacturing development (EMD). The balance was to be used to complete the program’s demonstration and validation phase. Reflecting a three-month delay in starting EMD, the House bill would have provided just $295.5 billion, and the Senate, no funding, for EMD. The House bill would have provided $411.1 million and the Senate bill, $653 million, for demonstration and validation. The conference bill provides a total of $688.7 million for the JSF, including $203 million for EMD. Further, the bill directs DoD to complete flight testing before selecting the EMD design. The bill also supports the original winner-take-all acquisition strategy.

Army

The bill funds 18 UH-60 Blackhawk helicopters for $211.7 million, $125 million and 12 aircraft more than requested. The bill also funds development of the RAH-66 Comanche helicopter ($614 million) and the Crusader artillery system ( $355 million) at the requested levels.

Navy

The defense appropriations conference bill provides $2.9 billion to procure 42 F/A-18E/F aircraft, $43 million less than requested, but provides $263 million for 12 AV-8B aircraft, $35.6 million and two aircraft more than requested. The bill also contains $460 million in advance procurement funds for the LHD-8 amphibious assault ship. (The Navy had planned to request full funding for the boat in FY 2005.) But the defense conference bill cuts $949.3 million from the $1.5 billion procurement request for the fifth and sixth LPD-17 amphibious ships over congressional concerns about delivery delays involving the first two ships; the balance is to fund components of the two ships.

Air Force

The conference bill provides $122 million to procure four F-16s and $400 million to procure five F-15s, both unrequested. The bill provides $251 million for a 15th E-8 Joint Stars aircraft and adds an unrequested $46 million on advance procurement funding for a 16th aircraft. The F-22 aircraft request for $2.5 billion to procure 10 aircraft and $1.4 billion to continue R&D was fully funded.

For more information, contact Elizabeth Heeter or Steven Kosiak at (202) 331-7990.

The Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments (CSBA) is an independent policy research institute established to promote innovative thinking about defense planning and investment strategies for the 21st century. CSBA is directed by Dr. Andrew F. Krepinevich. See our website at http://www.csbaonline.org.

This supplemental was attached to the FY 2001 military construction appropriations bill. This bill provided about $4.1 billion more for defense than the administration had requested. Specifically, it provided about $2 billion for peacekeeping operations in Kosovo, and some $4.5 billion for other defense requirements. In addition, the bill contained some $4.8 billion for disaster relief, aid for Columbia’s counternarcotics efforts and other non-defense programs.