House panel OKs Defense appropriations measure
Some cuts to major weapons systems go deeper than House authorizers had recommended.
The House Appropriations Committee unanimously approved the $408.7 billion fiscal 2006 defense appropriations bill Tuesday, pushing the legislation to the floor for a vote next Tuesday.
The bill sets aside $363.4 billion for discretionary military spending, $3.3 billion less than authorized under the concurrent budget resolution and approved by the House Armed Services Committee.
The $408.7 billion spending measure also includes $45.3 billion in emergency "bridge" funds to cover the cost of operations in Iraq and Afghanistan from October to March 2006. That figure is $4.7 billion less than allowed under the budget resolution and $3.8 billion less than in the House defense authorization bill.
The fiscal restraint forced committee members to "be very creative," said House Defense Appropriations Subcommittee Chairman C.W. (Bill) Young, R-Fla. The result, he added, is a "delicate, balanced" bill that takes care of the Defense Department's most pressing needs.
Despite the difference in total price tags, the appropriations bill closely mirrors the work of the House Armed Services Committee, highlighting a trend between the two panels of hammering out major differences before heading into separate markups.
Both committees, for instance, restored funding to the Air Force's C-130J program and increased Navy shipbuilding buys.
Late last year, the Pentagon proposed canceling the C-130J -- a decision it later reversed -- and requested funding for only four new ships in fiscal 2006. Appropriators increased buys to eight ships, while authorizers set aside money for seven.
However, some cuts to major weapons systems go deeper in the appropriations bill.
For instance, authorizers slashed $400 million from the Army's Future Combat Systems, a massive program considered the technological core of the service's transformation efforts.
Appropriators, however, ultimately cut $449 million from the administration's $3.4 billion request, and would require the Army to submit a report to Congress detailing the program's various technologies.
The committee also recommended stripping $340 million from the Army's Joint Tactical Radio System, a software-defined radio program that is expected to fall behind schedule and exceed costs. House authorizers cut only $100 million from the program.
During the brief markup of the bill, Appropriations Committee members expressed concerns about operations in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Minority Whip Hoyer said he is worried about a "serious deficiency" in personnel and resources deployed to Iraq.
The military is "100,000-light in Iraq in the numbers of troops [needed] to accomplish the objectives set for them to keep and maintain the peace," Hoyer said.
Appropriations ranking member David Obey, D-Wis., introduced the only three amendments offered during the markup.
Just one, prohibiting "coercive and abusive religious proselytizing" at the Air Force Academy, was agreed to. A similar amendment introduced by Rep. Steve Israel, D-N.Y., failed in the House Armed Services Committee last month.
Obey also sought to limit tax cuts to those earning more than $1 million annually to increase the government's net revenues by $25.8 billion to offset the cost of current operations.
The amendment failed on a 40-18 vote and was opposed "reluctantly, with trepidation" by House Defense Appropriations Subcommittee ranking member John Murtha, D-Pa.
Another measure introduced by Obey would have required the House Budget Committee to issue another concurrent budget resolution if funding for military operations causes the federal deficit to exceed levels set in the current resolution. That amendment failed on a voice vote.