Analysis of 2004 Senate Defense Authorization Bill
On May 22, the Senate passed the Fiscal 2004 Defense Authorization Bill (S 1050) by vote of 98-1. The bill provides funding for most national security programs including Department of Defense, Military Construction and Energy Department Nuclear Weapons Programs. Total funding is $400.5 billion.
After the Senate adopted the bill, the Senate came to a rare unanimous consent agreement to consider several additional amendments to the bill on June 4:
Adopted by voice vote: A Sen. Kennedy amendment to extend naturalization benefits non-citizen members of the Selected Reserve and to extend posthumous benefits to surviving spouses, children, and parents.
Adopted by voice vote: A Sen. Reid amendment to allow disabled veterans to receive veterans’ and disabled benefits — otherwise known as concurrent receipt.
Rejected 42-53: A Sen. Dorgan amendment to repeal the requirement for a base closure round in 2005.
COMPARISON OF HOUSE AND SENATE LEGISLATIVE PROVISIONS
Nuclear weapons:
- House — Permits research on low yield nuclear weapons, but retains the 1993 prohibition on development, testing or production.
- Senate — Permits research on low yield nuclear weapons, but requires the Administration to return to Congress with a request for funding for development, testing or production.
Endangered Species:
- House — Would make it more difficult to designate areas as “critical habitat” for endangered or threatened species and permit the Secretary of Defense to exempt the Pentagon’s “military readiness” (training) activities from the Marine Mammal Protection Act for up to two years with renewable two-year periods of exemption.
- Senate — Would make it more difficult to designate areas as “critical habitat” for endangered or threatened species.
Funding Shifts for Weapons Programs:
- House — Allow the Secretary of Defense to transfer up to $20 million per program, and up to a total of $250 million per fiscal year, from the program’s procurement account to continue funding research and development, without prior congressional approval.
- Senate — No similar provision.
Department of Defense Personnel System:
- House — Gives the Secretary of Defense broad authority in determining civilian personnel policy, including waiving certain work rules for permanent civilian DoD employees and hiring and compensating “experts” for periods of up to five years outside the normal federal employment system.
- Senate — No similar provision.
Base Realignment and Closure:
- House — Adds a number of provisions that have the effect of making it more difficult to close surplus military bases (a round of base closures is currently scheduled for 2005). DoD’s infrastructure would have to be large enough to support force based on a Pentagon study from 1991, and assume that no U.S. forces would be based overseas (currently the United States has over 200,000 troops permanently stationed abroad). It would also require the Secretary of Defense to submit to the 2005 base closure commission a list of “core” installations that are essential to U.S. national security. This list could be no smaller than 50 percent of the current base structure, and all bases on this list would be removed from consideration for possible closure. Finally, it would require a unanimous vote of the base closure commission to add any base to the closure list supplied by the Pentagon. Currently, a simple majority is sufficient.
- Senate — No similar provision. Instead, authorizes $3 million to establish a nine person commission (one appointed by the Secretary of Defense and the others by Congress) to conduct a study to assess the current U.S. overseas basing structure and report to Congress.
B-1B Bomber:
- House — Reverses the Air Forces’ plans to retire 32 of its 92 B-1B bombers by the end of the current fiscal year, instead retaining 23 of the aircraft slated for retirement. According to the Pentagon, the plan to retire a third of the current fleet would have saved $165 million. The House notes that the proposed chance will cost the Air Force an additional $1.1 billion over the next six years.
- Senate — No similar provision.
MAJOR WEAPONS SYSTEMS
Weapons are not compared to the House because the two bodies use different numbers.
NUCLEAR-RELATED PROGRAMS
Cooperative Threat Reduction (NunnLugar):
- Administration Request: $450 million
- Senate Bill: $450 million
- Difference: ——
Trident (D-5) Ballistic Missile:
- Administration Request: $675.2 million (12 Tridents)
- Senate Bill: $675.2 million (12 Tridents)
- Difference: ---