Yesterday the House Armed Services Committee marked up the Fiscal Year (FY) 2013 National Defense Authorization Act. Head over to the mothership for our initial summary.  If you thought last year’s version of the bill was bad, this year’s iteration includes a number of proposed funding proposals and policy provisions on nuclear weapons and missile defense that are even more extreme.

Click here, here, and here for our earlier previews of the bill.

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Nukes on a Blog, NDAA, nuclear weapons budget, Congress, nuclear guidance review (all tags)

Today House Armed Services Committee (HASC) Chairman Rep. Buck McKeon released his version of the FY 2013 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA). Click here for the Chairman's mark, which includes detailed funding tables for national defense (function 050) spending.  

The Chairman's mark will serve as the basis for the full Committee markup on Wednesday, May 9. It will be supplemented by the subcommittee marks and whatever amendments are adopted to the individual marks and the Chairman's mark.

The Chairman's mark provides $554 billion for national defense (function 050). This is an increase of approximately $4 billion above the President's request and $8 billion above the Budget Control Act's FY 2013 cap on 050 spending. While Republicans decry the national debt and denounce unnecessary spending, HASC is proposing to add hundreds of millions of dollars to defense programs the Pentagon says it doesn’t want.

Some highlights from the Chairman's mark re: nuclear weapons funding include:

-The mark authorizes $7.9 billion for NNSA weapons activities, an increase of $323 million above the FY 2013 requested level and the Senate and House Appropriations Committee approved levels. The purpose of the increase is to ensure that nuclear weapons spending keeps pace with the funding levels outlined in the Section 1251 report, which outlines the 10-year, $88 billion funding plan for NNSA weapons activities proposed by the administration in the context of the Senate's debate on the New START treaty.

-The mark authorizes $100 million for the Chemistry and Metallurgy Research Replacement Nuclear Facility (CMRR-NF) at Los Alamos. The administration's budget request did not contain any funding for CMRR-NF due to its decision to delay construction of the facility for at least five years.

The five-year deferral of the CMRR will not compromise NNSA’s ability to maintain the stockpile as essential plutonium missions can be performed by the existing complex.

Referring to the delay to the CMRR, NNSA Administrator Tom D’Agostino testified to Congress in April that: “And the good news by all of this, frankly, is there are a number of options, a number of different paths that we can proceed. We are not hampered by saying the nation has to have a capability right now to make 50 or 80 pits per year in order to take care of the stockpile. That's great news for the country because we are not forced into making rash decisions on significant investments in a very short period of time. So we have time to evaluate this area.”

Both the Senate and House Appropriations Committees supported the five-year delay to the facility in their marks of the FY 2013 Energy and Water bill in April. They are in agreement that NNSA can’t afford to build CMRR right now, an alternative to maintaining pit manufacturing and pit sustainment exists, and NNSA must demonstrate better project management when embarking on multibillion dollar construction projects.

It remains to be seen whether Strategic Forces Subcommittee Chairman Rep. Michael Turner (R-OH) will seek to further increase funding for CMRR in Committee on Wednesday, as the 1251 report included $300 million in projected funding for CMRR in FY 2013.

-The mark authorizes a $374 million increase above the requested level for Advanced Submarine System Development, the Pentagon research and development account that includes the program element which funds the Ohio-class replacement program. The Committee also authorized an additional $97 million above the request for the Ohio-class replacement reactor development program within the NNSA Naval Reactors account.  As we suspected, HASC appears bent on reversing the administration's proposed two-year delay to the Ohio-class replacement program.

-Finally, the mark authorizes $2.46 billion for NNSA's defense nuclear nonproliferation account, the same as the administration's request. The mark fully funds the Global Threat Reduction Initiative and the International Nuclear Materials Protection and Cooperation program. Recall that both the Senate and House Appropriations Committees increased funding for the Global Threat Reduction Initiative. Suffice it to say that HASC is prioritizing spending on weapons programs above spending on material security programs.

Stay tuned this space for full coverage of the HASC mark on Wednesday and reaction in the days afterward as the bill heads to the House floor next week.    

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Nukes on a Blog, Congress, nuclear weapons budget, NDAA (all tags)

The Senate today approved the fiscal 2011 National Defense Authorization Act by unanimous consent, removing a provision that would have provided reparations to war survivors in Guam.  The bill now goes back to the House for final approval.  

Interestingly, no single Senator took the time to demand the reading of the new, over 900 page, bill, nor complain about a lack of time for debate, and neither Kyl nor DeMint complained that the bill was “jammed” through so close to Christmas.

The stripped down defense authorization came after House and Senate Democrats agreed to remove “controversial” elements, such as “don’t ask don’t tell” and a provision that would have allowed privately funded abortions in military hospitals.  But even without those controversial provisions, the measure packs a punch.

The bill provides for $725 billion in defense spending, well over the President’s $708 billion request, including $158.7 billion for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Unlike in previous years, the House passed the defense bill Friday with almost no debate on Afghanistan, despite a recent White House review suggesting that tough combat in Afghanistan would continue for years and troop withdrawals in 2011 would be small.

The bill contains $75 million to train and equip Yemeni counterterrorism forces; $205 million for a program with Israel to develop its "Iron Dome" defense system; $11.6 billion for Afghan security forces; and $1.5 billion for Iraqi security forces.

In addition, the bill will provide for a 1.4 percent pay raise for troops and guarantee health care coverage for children of service members up to age 26.  It would also continue restrictions on the Defense Department's ability to close Guantanamo Bay, including prohibiting the transfer of detainees to the U.S.

The measure was sold as having been stripped of all controversy and is being lauded for its broad bipartisan support, but perhaps the Senate is simply busy playing politics elsewhere?

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Security Matters, fy11, Defense Spending, NDAA (all tags)

Friday, after successfully stripping the fiscal 2011 National Defense Authorization Act of all controversy, the House sent their shiny new and simplified (over 900 pages worth of simple) version of the bill to the Senate.

Gone, but not lost, from the measure is a provision to repeal “don’t ask don’t tell,” the same provision that prevented the House’s original bill from moving forward earlier this year.  Also missing is a Senate Armed Services provision that would have allowed privately funded abortions in military hospitals.

The bill’s effect is limited, since programs are funded by individual appropriations bills, but it still packs a considerable punch.

The $725 billion measure would authorize a 1.4 percent pay raise for troops starting next month, extend Tricare coverage for military dependents to age 26, create a counter-IED database to assist with troop-protection efforts, and direct the development of better lightweight body armor for ground forces, among other provisions.

The bill fails to provide guidance either way on the F-35 extra engine, neither preventing nor providing for the program.  It would, however, require the troubled F-35 program to adhere to a new set of management guidelines under which decisions to commit to specific levels of production would be linked to the program’s progress in meeting specific milestones.

Now we wait for the Senate, which was expected to follow suit immediately, but remains bogged down in the details.  If the Senate amends the bill it will be sent back to the House, and days are limited.

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Security Matters, fy11, Defense Spending, NDAA (all tags)

The end of the fiscal year is nigh, and guess what?  The Senate hasn’t passed a single appropriations bill for fiscal year 2011, which begins October 1.  In fact, neither the House nor the Senate even passed a formal budget resolution this year.  

To date, the House has passed two of the 12 appropriations bills for 2011.  The remaining 10 have yet to be reported out of committee.  And while the Senate has not passed a single spending bill, they have reported 11 of the 12 out of committee.

So, something has to be done.  Enter the all-too-common stopgap spending bill, or continuing resolution (CR).  

The Senate Voted 83-15 today to move forward on a CR, which will maintain funding levels at the current fiscal 2010 levels until Congress can move forward with the appropriations process.  

Republicans and Democrats alike seem set to expedite the measure with few additions.  You know how the kids start to get antsy right before recess.  Debate will continue tomorrow, we’ll let you know how things turn out.

Details of the bill, released later today by Appropriations Chairman Daniel Inouye, are after the jump…

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Security Matters, Congress, Senate, NDAA, Defense Spending (all tags)