Military Construction: A Snapshot of the
President’s FY2013 Appropriations Request
Daniel H. Else
Specialist in National Defense
February 28, 2012
Congressional Research Service
7-5700
www.crs.gov
R42376
CRS Report for Congress
Pr
epared for Members and Committees of Congress
Military Construction: A Snapshot of the President’s FY2013 Appropriations Request
On February 13, 2012, President Barack Obama forwarded his Fiscal Year (FY) 2013 budget
request to Congress, including $11.2 billion for military construction appropriations. The military
construction appropriation, which since the 109th Congress has been combined with
appropriations for the Department of Veterans Affairs and a number of small, related agencies,
has funded the building of new infrastructure worldwide for the operational and training use
active and reserve armed forces, the construction and operation of housing for service members
and their families, and facilities for the demilitarization of obsolete chemical munitions, as
required by international treaty obligations. It has also paid the U.S. contribution to the common
infrastructure fund for the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and the environmental
remediation of defense real property declared surplus since 1988 under the various rounds of base
closures and realignments, commonly referred to as BRAC.
The President’s request reflects some marked changes from appropriations requested in recent
years, likely reflecting decisions being made within the Pentagon on the shape and structure of
the future military force. The Department of Defense (DOD) is undergoing a review of its
strategy for national defense and plans to reduce force end strength over the next several years.
Construction funding requested for active duty forces aggregates to $7.7 billion, down from the
$10.9 billion requested for FY2012 and $9.8 billion appropriated for that year. Reserve
component construction (including the Army and Air National Guards) requested is reduced from
$1.2 billion for FY2012 to $1.0 billion for FY2013. The request for military family housing
remains steady at $1.7 billion, and funding requested for BRAC has shrunk from $582 million to
$476 million, reflecting the end of the implementation period for the 2005 BRAC round of base
closures and realignments in September 2011.
The President’s FY2013 Appropriations Request
Table 1. Military Construction Appropriations Accounts, FY2012-FY2013
Budget Authority in thousands of dollars
FY2012 Request
FY2012 Enacted (P.L.
Account
112-74, Div. H)
FY2013 Request
Military Construction,
3,235,991 3,006,491 1,923,323
Army
Military Construction,
2,461,547 2,112,823 1,701,985
Navy and Marine Corps
Military Construction,
1,364,858 1,227,058 388,200
Air Force
Military Construction,
3,848,757 3,431,957 3,654,623
Defense-wide
Total, Active
10,911,153 9,778,329 7,668,131
Components
Military Construction,
773,592 773,592 613,799
Army National Guard
Military Construction,
116,246 116,246 42,386
Air National Guard
Military Construction,
280,549 280,549 305,846
Army Reserve
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Military Construction: A Snapshot of the President’s FY2013 Appropriations Request
FY2012 Request
FY2012 Enacted (P.L.
Account
112-74, Div. H)
FY2013 Request
Military Construction,
26,299 26,299 49,532
Navy Reserve
Military Construction,
33,620 33,620 10,979
Air Force Reserve
Total, Reserve
1,230,306 1,230,306 1,022,542
Components
Total, Military
12,141,459 11,008,635 8,690,673
Construction
NATO Security
272,611 247,611 254,163
Investment Program
Family Housing
186,897 176,897 4,641
Construction, Army
Family Housing, Ops and
494,858 493,458 530,051
Debt, Army
Family Housing
100,972 110,972 102,182
Construction, Navy and
Marine Corps
Family Housing, Ops and
367,863 367,863 378,230
Debt, Navy and Marine
Corps
Family Housing
84,804 60,042 83,824
Construction, Air Force
Family Housing, Ops and
404,761 429,523 497,829
Debt, Air Force
Family Housing
— — —
Construction, Defense-
wide
Family Housing, Ops and
50,723 50,723 52,238
Debt, Defense-wide
DOD Family Housing
2,184 2,184 1,786
Improvement Fund
Homeowners Assistance
1,284 1,284 —
Fund
Total, Family
1,694,346 1,682,946 1,650,781
Housing
Chemical
75,312 75,312 151,000
Demilitarization
Construction
Defense-wide
Base Realignment
and Closure
BRAC
1990
323,543 323,543 349,396
BRAC
2005
258,776 258,776 126,697
Total,
BRAC
582,319 582,319 476,093
Rescissions
(Sec.131)
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Military Construction: A Snapshot of the President’s FY2013 Appropriations Request
FY2012 Request
FY2012 Enacted (P.L.
Account
112-74, Div. H)
FY2013 Request
Military Construction,
— -100,000
—
Army
Military Construction,
— -25,000
—
Navy and Marine Corps
Military Construction,
— -32,000
—
Air Force
Military Construction,
— -131,400
—
Defense-wide
Rescissions (Sec. 132)
Base Realignment and
— -258,776
—
Closure, 2005
Grand Total, Title I
14,766,047
13,049,647
11,222,710
(Appropriations)
14,766,047 13,596,823 11,222,710
(Rescissions) —
-547,176
—
Sources: Presidential Budget Request, FY2012; H.R. 2055 (P.L. 112-74); Presidential Budget Request, FY2013.
Table 2. OCO Military Construction Appropriations Accounts, FY2012-FY2013
Budget Authority in thousands of dollars
FY2012 Enacted (P.L.
Account FY2012
Request
112-74, Div. H)
FY2013 Request
Military Construction,
— 80,000
—
Army
Military Construction,
— 189,703
—
Navy and Marine Corps
Grand Total, Title IV
— 0 —
Rescission (P.L. 111-
-269,703
—
117)
(Appropriations) —
269,703
—
(Rescissions) —
-269,703
—
Sources: Presidential Budget Request, FY2012; H.R. 2055 (P.L. 112-74); Presidential Budget Request, FY2013.
Notes: This construction in U.S. Central Command was initially requested by the President as part of his “base”
budget (Title I of the appropriation bill), but was moved (into Title IV, the appropriations category dedicated to
Overseas Contingency Operations) by congressional appropriators. The budget authority required was
rescinded from P.L. 111-117, the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2010, and applied here.
Military Construction Funding Trends, FY2011-2013
The reduction in military construction for the active duty forces reflected in the reduction of more
than $2.1 billion between the enacted appropriation for FY2012 and the request for FY2013
indicates a “pause,” as Air Force briefers have put it to congressional staff, while the outlines of
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Military Construction: A Snapshot of the President’s FY2013 Appropriations Request
the future military force structure are being finalized. The changes in military construction for the
active forces and their respective reserve components may indicate the extent of uncertainty or
redirection of effort as the services reevaluate their roles, missions, and needed capabilities in
light of the changes in military strategy being discussed by the Secretary of Defense.
Over the course of the past decade and a half, the military departments have awarded contracts
for 103 military family housing privatization projects at installations across the country. These
contracts transfer ownership of and responsibility for housing from the Department of Defense to
private entities who then rent units to service members. The effect of this program has been to
shift a significant portion of the cost of military family housing construction and operation from
military construction to the military personnel account in the defense appropriation, where the
Basic Allowance for Housing (BAH) is intended to cover the service member’s housing cost. The
appropriation requested for family housing construction, used to build new or replacement
military family housing units on installations where it has not been privatized, fell dramatically
between FY2012 and FY2013 for the Army, possibly reflecting anticipated drawdown in end
strength of approximately 70,000 active duty soldiers over the next five years. This reduction
overshadows the relatively modest increase in military family housing construction requested for
the other three military services.
The Homeowners Assistance Fund (HAF) was created under Section 1013 of the Demonstration
Cities and Metropolitan Development Act of 1966, (42 U.S.C. 3374), as a means to provide
assistance to homeowners by mitigating losses incident to the disposal of a primary residence,
usually forced by unplanned relocation associated with the closure of a military facility. In 2009,
permanent eligibility was expanded to include some military members wounded in combat and
subsequently separated from the service and some surviving spouses of those killed in action.
Temporary eligibility was also afforded to some service members who were ordered to change
duty stations during the period of severely depressed housing markets. More than $323 million in
no-year funding (which may be obligated until expended) funding was appropriated to the HAF
for FY2010. That temporary eligibility was terminated as of September 30, 2010, and the $1.3
million appropriated for FY2012 and no funding requested for FY2013 indicate that sufficient
budget authority is currently available to satisfy requirements through the fiscal year.
Virtually all funding for base closures and realignments (BRAC) in both accounts (1990, which
funds base closures mandated during the 1988, 1991, 1993, and 1995 BRAC rounds, and 2005,
which funds the most recent round) is now dedicated to environmental cleanup of surplus real
property in preparation for the transfer of titles to non-DOD entities.
Author Contact Information
Daniel H. Else
Specialist in National Defense
delse@crs.loc.gov, 7-4996
Congressional Research Service
4