Defense Appropriations Bill approved by House Appropriations Committee
Laicie Olson | Jun 15, 2011 |
0 Yesterday, the House Appropriations Committee approved its version of the Fiscal Year (FY) 2012 Defense Appropriations Bill. The bill contains $530 billion in funding for non-war programs and accounts, an increase of $17 billion over FY 2011 and a decrease of approximately $9 billion from the President’s request.
In addition to $530 billion in base spending, the bill contains $118.7 billion in spending for the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, $842 million above the President’s request and $39 billion less than FY 2011, a decrease due to the drawdown of U.S. forces in Iraq. This total includes $12.8 billion for the training and equipping of Afghan Security forces, and $1.1 billion for the Pakistan Counterinsurgency Capability Fund (PCCF), which has moved from the subcommittee on State/Foreign Operations to the subcommittee on defense.
The total in the bill is $648.7 billion. Other portions of defense spending are contained in the Military Construction and Energy and Water Appropriations Bills.
The bill is expected to be considered by the full House of Representatives the week of June 20. It is expected that germane amendments will be permitted.
Check out the full analysis here.
Security Matters, House, Congress, F-35, Defense Spending (all tags)
House to fund the government through December 17 -- Beyond that, there be dragons
Laicie Olson | Dec 01, 2010 | 0 
CQ Today reports that Senate and House appropriations panel aides have completed an informal conference of the fiscal 2011 Defense spending bill. The agreement is set to be included in a Senate omnibus proposal that Senate Democrats hope to pass as early as next week. At the same time, Democratic appropriators are hard at work on Plan B: a long-term continuing resolution that would keep the government funded through the entire fiscal year.
At this point nothing is certain. Senate Republicans oppose an omnibus and could block the proposal, and in that case, even a yearlong CR is not assured. In the end, Congress could choose to pass a short-term CR and defer any decisions to the next Congress, effectively wiping the slate clean and throwing out any progress that was made this year.
Another approach, supported by Susan Collins of Maine, would be to pass a “minibus,” that covers only the bills dealing with the Defense Department, veterans’ programs and Homeland Security. Collins said yesterday that she opposes bringing an omnibus to the Senate floor. Minority Leader Mitch McConnell has also said that he opposes the omnibus approach, but Appropriations Chairman Daniel Inouye said Tuesday that the chances of securing GOP support for the omnibus are “beginning to look good.”
Whatever the case, the current CR is set to expire December 3, so the House is reportedly preparing to vote this week on a second CR that will fund the government through December 17. After that, it’s anybody’s guess.
Security Mattters, Defense Spending, CR, House, Senate (all tags)
