Center for Arms Control and Non-Proliferation

Analysis of the FY 2007 Supplemental (H.R. 2206) Spending Package Signed by President Bush (P.L. 110-28)

by Travis Sharp [contact information]

June 8, 2007

On May 25, 2007, President Bush signed into law H.R. 2206, the FY2007 Supplemental spending package. The Supplemental provides $94.7 billion to the Department of Defense - $3.2 billion more than the administration's request - to support military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. The legislation also includes $1 billion for National Guard and Reserve equipment, $1.1 billion for military housing, and $3 billion - $1.2 billion more than the administration's request - for Mine Resistant Ambush Protected Vehicles (MRAP).

This funding comes in addition to the $70 billion "bridge fund" Congress approved for FY2007 in September 2006. To date, Congress has appropriated approximately $610 billion in funding for the three operations initiated since the 9/11 attacks: Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF), Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF) in Afghanistan, and Operation Noble Eagle (ONE) providing enhanced base security. The administration has also requested $141.7 billion for war costs in FY2008. If this FY2008 request is approved, total Global War on Terror funding will reach around $752 billion, including roughly $564 billion (75%) for Iraq and $150 billion (20%) for Afghanistan.

HIGHLIGHTS

Benchmarks for the Iraq Government (see bottom for full list) - States that the "United States strategy in Iraq, hereafter, shall be conditioned on the Iraqi government meeting benchmarks." Eighteen specific benchmarks are laid out and the President is required to submit a report to Congress on the status of the benchmarks no later than July 15, 2007, and to submit a second report no later than September 15, 2007. The Comptroller General must also submit a report to Congress on the status of the benchmarks by September 1, 2007. Prior to the September report, the U.S. Ambassador to Iraq (Crocker) and the Commander of the Multi-National Forces in Iraq (Petraeus) must be made available to testify before Congress.

Assessing Capabilities of Iraqi Security Forces - Requires the Secretary of Defense to submit to Congress a report within 30 days containing individual transition readiness assessments by unit of Iraq and Afghan security forces. The report must be updated and resubmitted every 90 days thereafter. The Office of Management and Budget is also required to report on how funds provided for Iraq and Afghan security forces are being spent on a project-by-project basis. The bill also appropriates $750,000 to DoD to commission an independent entity which operates as a 501(c)(3) to submit a report within 120 days assessing the readiness of Iraqi Security Forces. 

IED Force Protection - Provides $2.4 billion for the Joint Improvised Explosive Device Defeat Fund in addition to fully funding the Joint Improvised Explosive Device Defeat Office (JIEDDO).

Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) - Provides $3.1 billion for DoD's Defense Base Closure Account 2005, established by section 2906A(a)(1) of the Defense Base Closure and Realignment Act of 1990.

Walter Reed Army Medical Facility - Prohibits funds included in the BRAC appropriation from being used to close Walter Reed Army Medical Center until equivalent medical facilities at the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center at Naval Medical Center, Bethesda, Maryland, and/or the Fort Belvoir, Virginia, Community Hospital have been constructed and equipped.

No Permanent Bases in Iraq, No Control of Iraqi Oil - Contains language prohibiting funding "for the purpose of providing for the permanent stationing of United States Armed Forces in Iraq" or "to exercise United States control over any oil resource of Iraq." In chapter 5, the bill also withholds $274.8 million in military construction funds for the Army until the Secretary of Defense certifies that none of the funds in are being used to build permanent military bases in Iraq.

Contractors in Iraq - Stipulates that not more than 85% of the funds may be obligated until the Secretary of Defense submits to Congress a report detailing the use of DoD funded service contracts conducted in the theater of operations in support of U.S. military and reconstruction activities in Iraq and Afghanistan. The report must include the total number of DoD-funded contractor personnel in Iraq and is due to Congress no later than August 1, 2007.

DOD FUNDING LEVELS (including transfer of funds; numbers may not add due to rounding)

Total

• Administration request: $91.5 billion
• Supplemental: $94.7 billion

Personnel

• Administration request: $12.3 billion
• Supplemental: $13.5 billion

Operations and Maintenance (O&M)

• Administration request: $50.1 billion
• Supplemental: $50 billion

Procurement

• Administration request: $24.5 billion
• Supplemental: $25.6 billion

Research, Development, Testing, & Evaluation (RDT&E)

• Administration request: $1.4 billion
• Supplemental: $1.1 billion

Revolving and Management Funds

• Administration request: $1.3 billion
• Supplemental: $1.1 billion

Other DoD

• Administration request: $1.3 billion
• Supplemental: $3.2 billion

BENCHMARKS FOR THE IRAQ GOVERNMENT (Sec. 1314)

1. Forming a Constitutional Review Committee and then completing the constitutional review.
2. Enacting and implementing legislation on de-Baathification.
3. Enacting and implementing legislation to ensure the equitable distribution of hydrocarbon resources of the people of Iraq without regard to the sect or ethnicity of recipients, and enacting and implementing legislation to ensure that the energy resources of Iraq benefit Sunni Arabs, Shia Arabs, Kurds, and other Iraqi citizens in an equitable manner.
4. Enacting and implementing legislation on procedures to form semi-autonomous regions.
5. Enacting and implementing legislation establishing an Independent High Electoral Commission, provincial elections law, provincial council authorities, and a date for provincial elections.
6. Enacting and implementing legislation addressing amnesty.
7. Enacting and implementing legislation establishing a strong militia disarmament program to ensure that such security forces are accountable only to the central government and loyal to the Constitution of Iraq.
8. Establishing supporting political, media, economic, and services committees in support of the Baghdad Security Plan.
9. Providing three trained and ready Iraqi brigades to support Baghdad operations.
10. Providing Iraqi commanders with all authorities to execute this plan and to make tactical and operational decisions, in consultation with U.S commanders, without political intervention, to include the authority to pursue all extremists, including Sunni insurgents and Shiite militias.
11. Ensuring that the Iraqi Security Forces are providing even handed enforcement of the law.
12. Ensuring that, according to President Bush, Prime Minister Maliki said `the Baghdad security plan will not provide a safe haven for any outlaws, regardless of [their] sectarian or political affiliation'.
13. Reducing the level of sectarian violence in Iraq and eliminating militia control of local security.
14. Establishing all of the planned joint security stations in neighborhoods across Baghdad.
15. Increasing the number of Iraqi security forces units capable of operating independently.
16. Ensuring that the rights of minority political parties in the Iraqi legislature are protected.
17. Allocating and spending $10 billion in Iraqi revenues for reconstruction projects, including delivery of essential services, on an equitable basis.
18. Ensuring that Iraq's political authorities are not undermining or making false accusations against members of the Iraqi Security Forces.

SOURCES

FY2007 Supplemental (H.R. 2206) bill text, accessible online.

Summary of the FY2007 Supplemental Funding Legislation, released May 24, 2007, accessible online.

Historically, operations in Iraq have consumed approximately 75% of GWOT funding and operations in Afghanistan have consumed 20% of GWOT funding. Estimates on future funding assume these trends will continue. CRS estimates that $510 billion has been spent on GWOT through the FY2007 bridge fund, which, when added to the $99.5 billion in the FY2007 Supplemental for DoD including MRAP and National Guard equipment, provides the $610 billion estimate. For more information, see Amy Belasco, "The Cost of Iraq, Afghanistan, and Other Global War on Terror Operations Since 9/11," Congressional Research Service, updated March 14, 2007, accessible online.