By KATE BRANNEN Published: 9 May 2011 18:55
House Armed Services Committee Chairman Rep. Buck McKeon, R-Calif., endorses the Pentagon's request for $553 billion for the 2012 defense base budget, which excludes war costs, according to the bill language released by his office May 9.
The document lays out the chairman's goals and sets the stage for when the full committee meets to mark up the defense authorization bill on May 11.
"In releasing his version of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2012, the chairman of the House Armed Services Committee today cautioned that the Administration should not repeat the mistakes of the past while expecting better results," a press release said. McKeon's bill "provides an alternative path forward, proposing significant savings while also meeting the needs of our nation's warfighters."
However, when it comes to actual spending, very little has changed. While there are some differences in individual funding lines, McKeon has essentially matched the Pentagon's request for each spending category in the base budget.
According to the spending charts attached to the authorization language, the Pentagon requested $111.5 billion for procurement and the committee would authorize $111.4 billion. For research and development, the authorization bill would fully fund the $75 billion requested for research and development. It also meets the Defense Department's request for $171 billion for operations and maintenance accounts.
The Pentagon asked for $142.8 billion for personnel and the committee's bill authorizes $142 billion. It exactly matches the request of $14.8 billion for military construction. The remaining $38 billion appears in "other authorizations." Here, the committee differs from the Pentagon by less than $1 billion.
The spending charts also indicate that McKeon fully supports the Pentagon's request of $118 billion for operations in Iraq and Afghanistan.
It should come as no surprise that McKeon has not made cuts to defense spending.
Recently, he pushed for a $7 billion increase to the $553 billion base defense budget request for 2012.
However, his endorsement of the president's budget request does not entirely match his rhetoric.
"The 2012 defense bill reflects the fact that members of the Armed Services Committee, the broader Congress-and the nation-must make tough choices in order to provide for America's common defense," McKeon said in a statement.
The disparity shows McKeon's effort to appeal to both sides of his party: those who wish to see spending cuts across the federal government and the more traditional defense hawks.
The committee chairman is also gearing up for a future debate over defense spending cuts recently introduced by President Obama.
"Proposing to cut defense spending by nearly $500 billion in the coming decade without first conducting the necessary due diligence to determine what our nation's basic defense requirements will be is an invitation to other countries to challenge America's supremacy," stated McKeon.
In this vein, McKeon said he supports the president's request of a review of military roles and capabilities, but he opposes deciding on the amount of savings it needs to generate before the study begins.
The bill language also encourages the Pentagon to divorce the Quadrennial Defense Review (QDR) from a discussion of available resources.
"While the committee acknowledges that ultimately resources must shape any strategy, the committee believes that the QDR should be based upon a process unconstrained by budgetary influences so that such influences do not determine or limit its outcome," it reads.
At the same time, the committee is interested in the national security impacts of China holding so much U.S. debt.
"This section would further require the Secretary of Defense, in consultation with the Director of National Intelligence, to carry out an assessment of the national security risks posed to the United States and United States allies as a result of the Federal debt liabilities owed to China and the amount of interest determined to have been paid by the United States to China," it reads.
The document also includes a number of provisions aimed at making the Defense Department more efficient.
It includes strong language on determining logistics and sustainment costs of weapons systems at the outset of programs rather than as an afterthought.
In the bill, the committee expresses concern that the Pentagon does not have enough "financial managers who understand the fiscal concepts necessary to manage defense resources."
It "directs the Comptroller General to annually assess the extent to which the Department of Defense is realizing the savings proposed by Secretary's efficiencies initiatives, and requires the Comptroller General to assess the extent to which components of the Department of Defense conducted business case analysis prior to recommending or implementing these efficiencies initiatives."
It also directs the Pentagon to gain much greater visibility into the number of contractors it has working for the department and what kind of activities they perform.
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