Chambers likely headed for debate on defense funding

Senate appropriators are proposing cutbacks to several high-profile military programs — encompassing ships to aircraft to missile defense — to replenish defense coffers for National Guard and Reserve equipment and Pentagon healthcare accounts burdened by growing numbers of wounded in Iraq and Afghanistan.

{mosads}The Appropriations Defense subcommittee’s initial decisions on the 2008 military spending bill likely will lead to intense conference negotiations with the House, which has passed the defense bill and made markedly different decisions, especially on Navy shipbuilding and some Army vehicle programs, as well as the service’s flagship Future Combat Systems.

Vigorously opposing the adoption to the 2008 defense bill of any policy language related to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, Sens. Daniel Inouye (D-Hawaii), chairman of the Appropriations Defense subcommittee, and Ted Stevens (R-Alaska), the panel’s ranking member, urged their colleagues to pass the $459.6 billion military spending bill quickly.
All war-related language should be reserved for the consideration of the 2008 emergency supplemental, Inouye stressed.  
“It is important to note that there are less than three weeks before the new fiscal year begins,” Inouye said. “It is critical that we expedite the consideration of this measure.”

Senate appropriators boosted funding for the National Guard and Reserve by $1 billion. The Guard and Reserve have been experiencing significant shortfalls as a result of demanding overseas deployments.

The Senate defense panel recommends a cut of almost $1 billion from the Pentagon’s operations and maintenance accounts, but fully funds key readiness programs that prepare forces for combat operations and peacetime missions, such as flying hours, steaming days, depot maintenance, training, spare and repair parts, base operations and facility maintenance.

The committee plans to add $950 million to the defense health program. That boost includes $486 million more than the Pentagon’s request for military hospitals, which “suffer from significant shortfalls and are stressed by our wounded heroes returning from war,” Inouye said.

The Senate’s defense health funding recommendation is almost double the amount the House approved in its 2008 defense bill.

In a departure from Senate and House defense authorizers and House appropriators, Inouye’s panel opted to fund fully the Army’s Future Combat Systems. His House counterparts slashed $406 million from the $3.7 billion request.

Where House appropriators funded five extra ships for the Navy, at more than $1.6 billion above the Navy’s request, their Senate counterparts added $470 million for the advance procurement of a second Virginia-class submarine.

Senate appropriators cut funding for the Littoral Combat Ship (LCS) program by $950 million, citing delays and cost overruns, and reduced the so-called LCS mission module funding by $65.3 million because of shipbuilding delays. The Senate, however, fully funds the first and second LCS under contract with Lockheed Martin and General Dynamics, respectively.

The Senate spending panel also left its mark on the Joint Cargo Aircraft program shared by the Army and the Air Force. It fully funded four aircraft in the Army’s accounts but completely slashed the Air Force’s research and development request. The Army and other supporters of the program fear Senate defense authorization bill language would take away the Army’s control of the program, which could delay or threaten the program.

Meanwhile, the Army’s Armed Reconnaissance Helicopter (ARH), which has encountered its share of trouble, would receive $242.3 million for 16 choppers. The panel fully funded the ARH’s restructured research-and-development program. While the House funded research and development for the program, it zeroed out funding for production.

While House appropriators added $1.1 billion to buy more Stryker vehicles to outfit a new, eighth Army Stryker brigade, Senate appropriators did not add any extra money to the Army’s Stryker request. The Bush administration has criticized the extra funds in the House bill.

Like all the other defense committees, Senate appropriators added $480 million for a second or alternate engine for the F-35 fighter jet, a move opposed by the Pentagon.

General Electric and Rolls-Royce build the second engine and have been in a lobbying battle with Pratt Whitney, which builds the primary engine for the F-35 and supports the Pentagon’s decision to cut funding for the second engine.

The Senate fully funded the Air Force’s No. 1 priority, a new mid-air refueling tanker, but cut $192 million in research-and-development funds for the new combat search-and-rescue helicopter program (CSAR-X) because of a delay in the contract award following industry protests over the Air Force’s selection of Boeing’s Chinook helicopter.

Much like their House counterparts, Senate appropriators cut $310 million from the administration’s missile-defense request, appropriating $85 million less for a third European missile-defense site. 

Overall, the panel trims the Pentagon’s procurement accounts by $1.4 billion.

Consideration of the defense-spending bill could be slowed by renewed debate on the defense authorization bill due back on the Senate floor next week, as well as by conference negotiations with the House — making its adoption before the beginning of the new fiscal year unlikely.