Senate panel boosts administration's Defense procurement request

By unanimous voice vote, the Senate Appropriations Committee quickly approved Tuesday a $416.2 billion fiscal 2005 Defense appropriations bill that includes $25 billion in emergency contingency funding for operations in Iraq and Afghanistan but which is $1.7 billion less than the Bush administration's $417.8 billion budget request.

Appropriations Chairman Ted Stevens, R-Alaska, said the bill funds a non-mandatory military end-strength increase of 20,000 soldiers, a measure that tracks closely with legislation approved by the Senate Armed Services Committee. It also funds a 3.5 percent military pay raise and an increase in the Basic Housing Allowance to reduce average out-of-pocket costs for military personnel from 3.5 percent to zero.

But Senate Appropriations ranking member Robert Byrd, D-W.Va., lamented the lack of wartime funding in the president's fiscal 2005 budget request, and said that as much as $50 billion would be needed beyond the committee's $25 billion allocation for emergency contingency funds.

"It took until May for the president to recognize that he had made a mistake," Byrd said in his opening statement. "Then, instead of telling the Congress and the American people the full cost of the Iraq war in 2005, he sought only $25 billion, and that he requested in the form of a blank check."

The bill provides a modest increase over President Bush's procurement request with $76.5 billion in funding, including money for 24 F/A-22 Raptor fighters, 14 C-17 transport planes, 27 UH-60 Blackhawk helicopters and 11 V-22 Osprey tiltrotor aircraft.

The bill also adds $120 million in advance funding for F-15 fighters, $25.6 million for Shadow Unmanned Aerial Vehicles, $12 million for acquisition of Joint Primary Air Training System aircraft, $11 million for an additional Army Predator UAV, and $5 million for an additional Hunter UAV.

It also adds $110 million for advance procurement of Air Force tankers -- but unlike the House bill the Senate language does not specify that the Air Force acquire Boeing KC-767 tankers.

Stevens said after the markup that if he has his way during the House-Senate conference next month, the House will revert to the Senate position and leave the issue for defense authorizers to resolve.

Shipbuilding programs were also given additional funds, including full funding of Bush's request for construction of one DD(X), the Navy's next-generation destroyer, and an additional $99.4 million to initiate construction of a second DD(X). The bill also adds $175 million for the Navy's LHA(R) amphibious assault ship, and realigns funding for the Advanced Seal Delivery System -- a long-range submarine designed to carry special operations forces for clandestine missions -- to the Navy's research and development accounts.

Senate appropriators fully funded the Army's Stryker fighting vehicle procurement request, and added $75 million for Army trucks, $25 million for Bradley reactive armor tiles, $15 million for M-113 Infantry Carriers, and $6 million for Stryker Brigade fielding and equipment. In addition, the bill adds $500 million for National Guard and reserve equipment.

The bill slightly increases the president's research and development funding request to $68.8 billion, including $4.5 billion for the Joint Strike Fighter, $352.1 million for the Navy's Littoral Combat Ship, and $10.2 billion for missile defense programs. The bill provides an additional $100 million for risk reduction associated with the Ground-Based Midcourse portion of the missile defense program, and adds $80 million for Arrow missile co-production.

However, Senate appropriators reduced funding for the Navy's VXX Executive Helicopter by $220 million due to program delays. They also trimmed funding for transformational satellite communications by $400 million and cut another $200 million from the Joint Unmanned Combat Air System.

The committee cut $100 million from the Mobile User Objective System and realigned funding for the Pentagon's Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency.

The bill would restructure the Army's Land Warrior program and, like the House version of the bill, realign more than $300 million in funding for the Army's Future Combat System Non-Line-of-Sight Cannon. Senate appropriators provided $3.03 billion for the Future Combat System, but also trimmed $150 million for excessive management costs and reduced funding for the Loitering Attack Munition.

Included in the $25 billion contingency fund for Iraq and Afghanistan is $100 million to secure and destroy captured enemy ammunition in Iraq. And, similar to the defense authorization bill, the appropriators' mark leaves $2.5 billion remaining in the Iraq Freedom Fund to deal with unexpected contingencies and provides $605 million to support an Army end-strength increase of 20,000 soldiers.

The committee added $865 million for force protection initiatives, including armored Humvees, security vehicles, and bolt-on armor kits. An additional $100 million is provided for the Coast Guard in support of Defense Department operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, and another $100 million would purchase equipment for the National Guard and reserve.

The bill maintains a five-day advance notification to Congress before transferring funds, and a quarterly reporting requirement on the use of funds.