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National Security Legislative Calendar

June 29, 2009

[New information bolded and italicized]

Congress is in recess for the 4th of July holiday, and returns to session on July 6. Last week, the House approved the annual defense authorization bill, as did the Senate Armed Services Committee.

KEY CALENDAR 2010 NATIONAL SECURITY BILLS

FISCAL YEAR 2010 DEFENSE AUTHORIZATION BILL

On June 11, the House Armed Services subcommittee that considers funds for strategic nuclear programs -- the Strategic Forces Subcommittee still headed by Rep. Ellen Tauscher (D-CA) who has been nominated as State Department Undersecretary for Arms Control -- approved its portion of the bill. The Subcommittee endorsed the Administration's $9.3 billion request, a cut of $1.2 billion, although Republicans will challenge those cuts in Committee and on the House floor. The panel approved $6.5 billion to maintain the nuclear weapons stockpile.

On June 16, the House Armed Services Committee approved the bill, which authorizes $550.4 billion for the Pentagon plus $130 billion for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. The Committee approved $434 million for the Cooperative Threat Reduction Initiative, an increase of $30 million from the Administration's request. The Committee approved $577 million for the Global Threat Reduction Initiative, an increase of $224 million. The Committee rejected several GOP amendments to add money for missile defense. A Turner (R-OH) amendment to add $120 million for National Missile Defense in Alaska and California was defeated by a substitute amendment 35 - 27. A Turner (R-OH) amendment to add $400 million for the third missile defense site in Europe was defeated by a substitute amendment 36 - 26. A Franks (R-AZ) amendment to add $1.2 billion to various ballistic missile defense projects was defeated, 27-34. A second Franks amendment to add $237 million for the airborne laser program was defeated 27 - 35. By a vote of 31 - 30, the Committee added $369 million as a downpayment for producing 12 additional F-22 aircraft that the Pentagon did not request.

On June 25, the House approved the bill on a 389 – 22 vote. A Franks (R-AZ) amendment to add $1.2 billion for missile defense was defeated 171 – 244. A McGovern (D-MA) amendment asking the Administration to present its plan for the beginning, the transition and the end of U.S. military operations in Afghanistan failed 138 – 278. The House leadership refused to allow Rep. Barney Frank (D-MA) to offer an amendment deleting the funds the Committee added for the F-22.

On June 25, the Senate Armed Services Committee approved its version of the Fiscal Year 2010 Defense Authorization Bill totaling $679.8 billion. The Committee accepted the Administration’s request of $9.2 billion for missile defense. It added $20 million for the Nunn-Lugar Cooperative Threat Reduction program, including funds to speed up destruction of retired nuclear weapons. The Committee voted 13 – 11 to approve $1.75 for seven additional unrequested F-22 aircraft; the Administration has threatened to veto the bill if Congress goes beyond 187 of these aircraft and Sens. Levin (D-MI) and McCain (R-AZ) have indicated they will offer an amendment on the Senate floor to strip the funds. It is not clear when the full Senate will consider the bill.

STATE DEPARTMENT AUTHORIZATION BILL

On May 20, the House Foreign Affairs Committee approved by voice vote the State Department authorization bill. The bill would authorize about $18 billion in fiscal 2010 for the State Department, U.N. peacekeeping and dues and other diplomatic programs. A Republican substitute that would have authorized $2.8 billion less was defeated by voice vote. The bill would authorize $3 million to pay for an additional 25 positions at the Department of State for arms control and non-proliferation functions.

On June 10, the full House approved the bill, H.R. 2410, by a vote of 235 - 187, after rejecting 174 - 250 a Burton (R-IN) motion to substitute an Iran sanctions measure. The House approved by voice vote a Sessions (R-TX) amendment expressing the sense of Congress that Israel has the right to defend itself from an imminent nuclear or military threat from Iran. The House rejected by a vote of 205 - 224 a Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL) amendment cutting funds for the International Atomic Energy Agency because of IAEA nuclear technical cooperation with Iran, Syria, Sudan and Cuba.

It is not clear if the Senate will take up this bill. The last time this bill was enacted was fiscal year 2002.

FISCAL YEAR 2010 APPROPRIATIONS BILLS

The House Appropriations Committee has put out a schedule for appropriations bills:

State, Foreign Operations:
June 17: Subcommittee mark-up
June 24: Full committee mark-up
July 9 & 10: House floor

Energy and Water:
June 25: Subcommittee mark-up
July 7: Full committee mark-up
July 15 & 16: House floor

Defense Appropriations:
July 13: Subcommittee mark-up
July 21: Full committee mark-up
July 30: House floor

FISCAL YEAR 2010 FOREIGN OPERATIONS APPROPRIATIONS BILL

On June 17, the House Appropriations State-Foreign Operations Subcommittee approved by voice vote the $48.8 billion Fiscal Year 2010 bill. the $48.8 billion bill. The bill is $1.2 billion or 2.4 percent below FY09 enacted spending; and $3.2 billion or 6 percent below the Administration’s request level of $52.04 billion. The bill provides funding for 1,000 new staff for the State Department and roughly 300 at USAID and provides about $2.7 billion in non-military assistance to Afghanistan and $1.3 billion to Pakistan.

On June 24, the full House Appropriations Committee approved the bill by voice vote The Committee added a provision prohibiting the U.S. Export-Import Bank from giving credit to companies that provide Iran with “significant” amounts of refined petroleum. The bill is expected to go to the House floor after the 4th of July recess.

FISCAL YEAR 2010 ENERGY AND WATER APPROPRIATIONS BILL

On June 25, the House Energy and Water Appropriations Subcommittee marked-up its Fiscal Year 2010 bill. While few details are available, the Subcommittee approved $1.5 billion for overseas non-proliferation activities. The International Nuclear Material Protection and Cooperation program that works in Russia and elsewhere to secure nuclear material and enhance border and port security received $592 million, $40 million above the request and $192 million above the fiscal year 2009 enacted. The bill would increase nuclear weapons dismantlement rate by 40% from the Administration’s request.

LEGISLATIVE ACTION COMPLETED IN CALENDAR 2009

ECONOMIC STIMULUS PACKAGE

On February 13, Congress approved the President’s $787 billion economic stimulus bill. The House-Senate conferees working out differences between the House and Senate bills knocked out $1 billion that the Senate had added for the Department of Energy’s National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA), primarily for infrastructure projects. Arms control groups opposed the funding because of a lack of clarity on how the funds would be used and a fear that the money could be used to advance new nuclear weapons.

FISCAL YEAR 2009 OMNIBUS APPROPRIATIONS BILL: ENERGY AND WATER PORTION

On June 17, 2008, the House Energy and Water Appropriations Subcommittee marked up or wrote its annual bill that included $33.3 billion for Fiscal Year 2009. It cut all funds for the Reliable Replacement Warhead and prohibited any spending for the project. It increased nuclear non-proliferation funding by $283 million. The Subcommittee also cut the $302 million requested for the Global Nuclear Energy Partnership to $120 million and restricted the use of the remaining funds; recommended no funding (a cut of $145 million) for the manufacture of new nuclear weapons pits (which are the cores of nuclear weapons); and recommended no funds (a cut of $100 million) for the Chemistry and Metallurgy Research Facility Replacement. It increased funding for the Global Threat Reduction Initiative from $220 million to $407 million; Non-Proliferation and International Security from $140 million to $185 million; and International (nuclear) Materials Protection and Cooperation from $430 million to $609 million. On June 25, the full House Appropriations Committee approved the bill as reported by the Subcommittee.

The Senate Energy and Water Subcommittee completed its mark-up on July 8, 2008 and the full Committee on July 10. The Committee cut the entire $10 million request for the Reliable Replacement Warhead but approved $145 million for plutonium pit manufacturing.

The Omnibus appropriations bill, a collection of nine appropriations bills, included $33.3 billion for the Fiscal Year 2009 Energy and Water Appropriations bill. Congress once again refused to provide any funding for the Reliable Replacement Warhead. It provided $1.5 billion for nuclear non-proliferation programs, $146 million above 2008 and $395 million for the Global Threat Reduction Initiative, double 2008, to recover nuclear and radioactive materials from sites around the world that could be used as weapons and to secure sites in the U.S. and Russia. The Global Nuclear Energy Partnership (GNEP) was zeroed out, although $145 million was approved for the Advanced Fuel Cycle Initiative, the research portion of GNEP.

On February 25, the House approved the $410 Omnibus appropriations measure by a vote of 245 - 178.

During the week of March 3, the Senate attempted to complete action on the $410 billion bill, but couldn't achieve the 60 votes necessary to stop a filibuster. However, on March 10, the Senate voted 62 - 35 to end debate on the bill and then completed final passage by voice vote. All attempts to amend the bill were rejected, so no conference committee with the House was required. An amendment by Sen. Jon Kyl (R-AZ) to bar use of funds in the bill to contract with any company that does business with Iran's energy sector failed with a vote of 41 - 53.

FISCAL YEAR 2009 OMNIBUS APPROPRIATIONS BILL: STATE, FOREIGN OPERATIONS PORTION

On July 16, 2008, the House State and Foreign Operations Appropriations Subcommittee approved the Fiscal Year 2009 State, Foreign Operations and Related Programs appropriations bill. On July 17, the Senate Appropriations Committee approved its version of the bill. Both bills provide $36.6 billion in funding and represent the largest component of the Fiscal Year 2009 International Affairs Budget. When combined with the proposed $1.3 billion in funding for the International Food Aid Programs (Agriculture Appropriations) and $300 million for the Global AIDS Fund (HHS-Labor Appropriations), total spending for the Fiscal Year 2009 International Affairs Budget will be $38.2 billion. This spending level represents a $1.6 billion reduction from the Administration's request and a $4 billion increase or 11% increase over Fiscal Year 2008 base spending levels. On June 25, the full House Appropriations Committee approved the bill as reported by the Subcommittee.

The Omnibus appropriations bill, a collection of nine appropriations bills, included $38.2 billion for the Fiscal Year 2009 International Affairs Budget. The largest component – $36.6 billion or 96% of the International Affairs Budget – is the State, Foreign Operations and Related Programs Appropriations bill. The $38.2 billion base total represents and 11.4%or $3.9 billion increase above Fiscal Year 2008 base funding levels and a 4% or $1.6 billion decrease below the Bush Administration’s Fiscal Year 2009 request.

FISCAL YEAR 2010 BUDGET RESOLUTION

On February 26, the Obama Administration released a preliminary outline of the Fiscal Year 2010 defense budget, although the detailed budget request will not be released until April. The topline request provides $534 billion in Fiscal Year 2010 funding for the Department of Defense’s “base” budget, which excludes funding for Iraq, Afghanistan, and nuclear weapons activities. The request also includes $130 billion to fund the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Thus the total request is $664 billion. This figure does not include funding for nuclear weapons or miscellaneous non-DOD defense costs, which were approximately $23 billion in FY 2009. Without adjusting for inflation, the $534 billion topline request is $21 billion, or 4.1 percent, greater than the $513 billion appropriated by Congress in FY 2009 for DOD’s base budget. For a more thorough analysis, see the Center for Arms Control and Non-Proliferation’s report.

The President requested $51.7 billion for the Fiscal Year 2010 International Affairs Budget, an estimated $4.5 billion or 9.5% above the comparable amount for Fiscal Year 2009. The details of the request will be presented later. This total includes the money included in the Fiscal Year 2009 Omnibus appropriations bill and two supplemental bills.

On March 25, the House Budget Committee completed action on the Fiscal year 2010 Budget Resolution with a 24-15 party-line vote. On March 26, the Senate Budget Committee did the same with a 13-10 party-line vote. The measure establishes ceilings on large categories of spending, including defense.

Both committees approved the President’s request of 050 function total for National Defense of $692 billion (as estimated by the Congressional Budget Office). This total includes $562.0 billion in the 050 National Defense portion of the budget, with an additional $130 billion for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan placed in the 970 function for overseas deployments. (Just to confuse things, the discretionary total for defense is $686.1 billion because it does not include certain mandatory spending accounts.)

The 150 International Affairs discretionary total (Department of State, foreign assistance) is $48.5 billion in the House bill and $49.8 billion in the Senate bill compared to the President’s request of $53.8 billion.

On April 2, the House passed the budget resolution by a 233 – 196 vote, with all Republicans and 20 Democrats voting “no”. The Senate also approved the measure 55 – 43, with all Republicans and Sen. Evan Bayh (D-IN) and Ben Nelson (D-NE) voting against it.

In the Senate, an amendment by Sens. John Kerry (D-MA) and Richard Lugar (R-IN) to restore $4 billion in funding for the International Affairs Budget was approved by voice vote.

An amendment by Sens. John Kyl (R-AZ) and Joseph Lieberman (I-CT) restricting funds from companies involved in Iran’s energy sector was adopted.

An amendment by Sens Lieberman (I-CT), Sessions (R-AL), Begich (D-AK), Kyl (R-AZ), Murlowski (R-AK), Inhofe (R-OK) and Johanns (R-NE) to maintain the Bush Administration level of spending of $9.4 billion on Missile Defense Agency missile defense programs was withdrawn.

The House-Senate Budget Conference Committee agreed on a measure that was adopted by both the House and Senate on April 29. The House vote in favor was 233 - 193; the Senate vote was 53 - 43. No Republican in either body voted for the budget resolution. The budget endorses the President's defense budget request. It provides $51 billion for the International Affairs Budget, which represents a $2.8 billion or 5.2% cut from the Administration’s request of $53.8 billion and a $1.2 billion or 2.5% increase over Fiscal Year 2009 enacted and projected spending of $49.8 billion. Domestic programs were cut by about $10 billion.

FISCAL YEAR 2010 BUDGET REQUEST HIGHLIGHTS

The Obama Administration has requested $680 billion for military activities in Fiscal Year 2010, which begins on October 1, 2009. This total includes $533.8 billion for the Department of Defense base budget. The base budget is $20.5 billion more than the current levels, an increase of 4 percent, and inflation-adjusted (“real”) increase of 1.7 percent. In addition, the Pentagon is requesting $130 billion for Iraq and Afghanistan war costs for Fiscal Year 2010. The total Atomic Energy Defense Activities included in the 050 defense budget account is $16.4 billion.

The Administration is requesting $9.3 billion for the Missile Defense Agency, down roughly $1.6 billion from the current $10.9 billion. This total does not include $1 billion for the SBIRS-High satellite. The request calls for the termination of the Multiple Kill Vehicle (MKV) and the Kinetic Energy Interceptor (KEI) and cancels the second airborne laser (ABL) prototype aircraft. While the Administration plans to procure 14 additional interceptor missiles for the National Missile Defense in Alaska and California, it plans to cap deployment of those missiles at 30, with the additional 14 to be used for testing and spares.

There is no funding for additional F-22 or C-17 aircraft, nor for the Reliable Replacement nuclear warhead. The Administration is requesting $404.1 million for the Cooperative Threat Reduction non-proliferation program (also known as “Nunn-Lugar” program), 6.9 percent below the current level of $434.1 million.

For complete details of the budget, see our analysis from the Center for Arms Control and Non-Proliferation.

The Administration has requested $53.9 billion for the Fiscal Year 2010 International Affairs budget, an increase of $4.1 billion or 8.2% from the Fiscal Year 2009 enacted and pending appropriations.

WEAPONS SYSTEMS ACQUISITION REFORM

On April 2, the Senate Armed Services Committee unanimously approved the Weapons Systems Acquisition Reform Act (S. 454). The bill, originally introduced by Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Carl Levin (D-MI) and Ranking Republican John McCain (R-AZ), seeks to prevent cost overruns and increase oversight in the Pentagon’s acquisition process. It may lead to significant changes in Pentagon weapons purchases. In the House, a similar measure has been introduced by Rep. Ellen Tauscher (D-CA) and Rep. John Spratt (D-SC).

On May 7, the Senate approved the measure 93 - 0. The same day, the House Armed Services Committee approved its version of the bill, HR 2101, by a vote of 59 - 0. The President asked that the bill be sent to his desk by the Memorial Day recess.

On May 13, the House unanimously approved the bill, 428 - 0, and asked for an immediate conference with the Senate on the bill. On May 20, the Senate unanimously approved the conference report by a vote of 95 - 0. The next day, the House also voted unanimously 411 - 0 for the conference report, and sent the bill to the President.

SUPPLEMENTAL APPROPRIATIONS BILL TO PAY FOR THE IRAQ AND AFGHANISTAN WARS

On February 26, the Administration requested $75.5 billion in war funding for the remainder of Fiscal Year 2009, which, when combined with the $68.5 billion already approved in 2008, brings the total war funding for 2009 to $144 billion. The Administration also requested $130 billion in war funding for Fiscal Year 2010. However, the details of the budget were to be released later.

On April 9, the President sent to Congress the details of his $75.5 billion request (there is an additional $7.1 billion in non-war programs, including non-proliferation) . House Defense Appropriations Subcommittee chair John Murtha (D-PA) has indicated that he will add more than $10 billion to the bill for new weapons.

On May 7, the House Appropriations Committee approved the Supplemental bill by voice vote. The measure now totals $96.7 billion, more than $9 billion above the Administration’s original request. The committee added $2.25 for eight C-17 cargo aircraft, $2.1 billion for 800 MRAPs, $904 million for C-130J planes and other programs. The committee cut $50 million requested for closing Guantanamo Bay prison. The full House is scheduled to consider the legislation this week. The Senate Appropriations Committee may hold a mark-up or writing of the bill this week or next week.

On May 14, the House easily approved the bill 368 - 60, with mostly anti-war Members of Congress voting "no." A Rogers (R-KY) amendment to recommit the bill to the Appropriations Committee with instructions failed 191 - 237.

On May 14, the Senate Appropriations Committee approved its version of the bill. The Senate bill totals $91.3 billion compared to the House total of $96.7 billion. Most of this difference is due to House approval of new weapons -- C-17 transport aircraft and C-130 transport aircraft -- while the Senate did not. Neither bill funds the Administration request for $95 million in energy assistance to North Korea.

During the week of May 18, the Senate held a series of contentious votes on the bill, mostly related to the prisoners at Guantanamo Bay. In a defeat for the Obama Administration, by a vote of 90 - 6, the Senate adopted the Inouye (D-HI) - Inhofe (R-OK) amendment prohibiting spending to move any detainees from Guantanamo Bay to the United States. The Senate approved the bill on May 21 by a vote of 86 - 3.

On June 11, the House-Senate conferees agreed on a $106 billion compromise measure. The conferees approved $79.9 billion for the wars, as expected, $7.7 billion for flu preparedness, $2.4 billion for Pakistan assistance, $721 for U.N. peacekeeping and $5 billion to cover the risk of default on a new $108 billion line of credit for the International Monetary Fund. The conferees provided $55 million for non-proliferation programs, a cut of $34.5 million from the request. A Senate provision barring the release of detainee torture photographs was dropped. There is also $2.7 billion to purchase eight C-17 cargo planes and $4.5 billion for mine-resistant ground vehicles. The conferees added several restrictions on moving Guantanamo Bay prisoners to the U.S.

On June 16, after strong pressure from House leadership, the House approved the conference report by a vote of 226 - 202. Five Republicans supported the bill, and 31 Democrats opposed it. Two days later, the Senate overwhelmingly approved the bill 91 - 5. Prior to the final vote, the Senate turned back a Gregg (R-NH) point of order to strike a "cash-for-clunkers" subsidy for people turning in used cars to buy new ones. The vote was 60 - 36.