Defense spending bill aims toward fiscal responsibility

The bipartisan $459.6 billion fiscal 2008 defense appropriations bill cleared the House with nearly unanimous support. While the war in Iraq and war-related funding captures headlines, it is the base defense appropriations bill that funds our military and provides for our national defense.

In less than a year, we have appropriated over $1 trillion for the Department of Defense. If you include the president’s fiscal ’08 supplemental war spending request, we have appropriated, for the Department of Defense alone, over $750 billion for the war.

The House bill achieves a balance between preparing military units for near-term deployments, supporting our military members and their families, and modernizing our forces to meet future threats. The bill changes the direction of the Defense Department by enacting provisions that promote fiscal responsibility, accountability and contractual oversight.
Supporting our troops and their families. The ’08 defense appropriations bill provides a 3.5 percent pay raise for all military personnel, an increase the administration called “unnecessary,” requesting instead a pay raise of only 3 percent. We appropriated $2.9 billion to provide urgently needed counselors, teachers, and child care providers to our military families who are stressed by repeated and extended deployments. And we once again rejected the president’s proposal to increase the fees on TRICARE co-payments by covering the $1.9 billion shortfall so that our military families won’t have to foot the bill for higher healthcare costs.

Preparing our forces to meet future threats. The ’08 defense appropriations bill fully funds the personnel, equipment and training costs of growing the Army by 7,000 soldiers and the Marine Corps by 5,000 Marines. This increase is necessary to help alleviate some of the strain placed on the existing force because of current deployment rotations in Iraq. We also provided an additional $1.1 billion to create another Army Stryker Brigade, since commanders and soldiers constantly praise the vehicle as mobile, quiet and survivable. The bill contains an additional $925 million to purchase essential National Guard and Reserve equipment. This will ensure that our Guard and Reserve have the necessary equipment they need to meet overseas deployment demands and to respond to natural disasters and emergencies here at home.

Fostering economic stability in weapons programs.  The ’08 defense appropriations bill significantly increases the president’s shipbuilding request. We determined that additional ships are necessary to ensure that our military maintains sea superiority and to also provide stability to our nation’s shipbuilding industry. The bill provides $200 million for production enhancements for the much anticipated F-35 Lightning II fighter jet to help drive down the procurement costs of the aircraft. We also provided $480 million to continue development of an alternative engine for the aircraft, which is urgently needed to ensure a competitive and reliable base of engine production.

Providing accountability and oversight. The ’08 defense appropriations bill corrects years of unaccountability and lack of oversight within the Defense Department. We provide funding for 600 new General Services Administration contract specialists and additional Inspector General civilian personnel to provide much needed oversight on DoD contract services and those plagued by significant cost overruns. We are especially concerned with the thousands of security contractors operating in Iraq and Afghanistan. The bill directs the secretary of defense to develop uniform personnel standards and a clear set of rules of engagement for these personnel. We also required that the president must include all funding for both non-war and war-related activities to be included in the regular DoD budget request. This provision eliminates future war-related supplemental spending bills, which are outside the regular budget process and have made it more difficult to track spending and plan for future costs.

Murtha is the chairman of the Department of Defense subcommittee of the House Appropriations Committee.

Special section: Appropriations

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