Fact Sheet: Some Highlights of H.R. 83, Division C, FY2015 Defense Appropriations Act

Fact Sheet: Some Highlights of H.R. 83, Division C, FY2015 Defense Appropriations Act

Fact Sheet: Some Highlights of H.R. 83, Division C, FY2015 Defense Appropriations Act

December 10, 2014 (R43819)

Following are selected highlights of H.R. 83, Division C, the version of the DOD Appropriations Act for FY2015 agreed to on December 9, 2015 by negotiators for the House and Senate. On June 20, 2014, by a vote of 340-73, the House passed H.R. 4870, the FY2015 DOD Appropriations bill that had been reported by the House Appropriations Committee on June 10. On July 17, 2014, the Senate Appropriations Committee approved an amended version of the same bill.

To expedite final action on the bill (which the Senate did not take up), negotiators from the House and Senate drafted a compromise version of the defense bill as part of an omnibus funding measure for the balance of FY2015. For procedural reasons, this "Consolidated and Further Continuing Appropriations Act for FY2015" has been packaged as a House amendment to a Senate amendment to H.R. 83, an unrelated bill. The DOD part of the omnibus is Division C of the proposed funding bill.

This CRS Fact Sheet, based on the joint explanatory statement of House and Senate negotiators, is intended as a time-urgent expedient to offer Members the best available information about the bill pending update of CRS Report R43788, Defense: FY2015 Authorization and Appropriations, by [author name scrubbed].

Table 1. FY2015 Department of Defense Appropriations Act, H.R. 83. Division C

(amounts in millions of dollars of discretionary budget authority)

Amended FY2015 Budget Request

House-Passed H.R. 4870

Senate Committee-Reported
H.R. 4870

Final Bill
H.R. 83, Division C

BASE BUDGET

Military Personnel

128,957,593

128,127,640

128,430,543

128,004,618

Operation and Maintenance (O&M)

166,002,818

164,533,638

165,786,003

161,655,679

Procurement

89,660,299

91,228,819

91,409,693

93,835,072

Research, Development, Test and Evaluation (RDT&E)

63,533,947

63,352,890

62,566,834

63,713,275

Revolving and
Management Funds

1,234,468

1,334,468

2,150,078

2,134,480

Defense Health Program and Other DOD Programs

34,101,361

33,851,219

33,641,680

34,144,557

Related Agencies

1,024,194

1,015,194

1,023,374

1,021,600

General Provisions
(including rescissions)

-260,685

976,452

-1,891,348

-803,288

Subtotal:
DOD Base Budget

484,253,995

484,420,320

483,116,857

483,705,993

Overseas Contingency Operations (OCO) for DOD (except construction)

63,516,619

79,445,000

58,255,711

63,935,295

DOD Ebola-Related

112,000

n/a

n/a

112,000

TOTAL

547,882,614

563,865,320

541,372,568

547,753,288

Source: H.Rept. 113-474, Report of the Committee on Appropriations to Accompany H.R. 4870, June 13, 2014; S.Rept. 113-211, Department of Defense Appropriations Bill, 2015, July 17, 2014; "Explanatory Statement....Regarding the House Amendment to the Senate Amendment on H.R. 83," accessed on the House Rules Committee website.

Note: The House-passed version of H.R. 4870 appropriated for OCO $79.45 billion, the placeholder amount that had been included in the Administration's initial FY2015 budget request. The Senate committee version of the bill, approved with minor reductions the Administration's revised OCO request of $58.47 billion to cover war costs associated with Afghanistan, and efforts to reassure European allies in the wake of Russia's occupation of Ukrainian territory. The Senate committee version of the bill also included funds for non-DOD OCO activities and for some military construction projects, which are outside the scope of the defense appropriations bill. By the time House and Senate negotiators drafted the final bill, the Administration had requested additional OCO funds to cover operations against the Islamic State and DOD activities to combat the Ebola virus. The final bill would shift from the base budget to OCO (which is not subject to the mandatory spending caps currently in force) $2.9 billion worth of Operation and Maintenance funding.

Table 2. Selected Administration Budget and Policy Initiatives

Issue

Administration
Proposal

House-Passed H.R. 4870

Senate Committee-Reported
H.R. 4870

Final Bill
H.R. 83, Division C

Annual Raise in Military Basic Pay

1%, instead of the 1.8% raise that would occur under existing law (unless overridden by the President)

Adds $533.3 million to cover the additional cost of a 1.8 percent raise (Section 8130)

No added funds

No added funds

Annual Commissary Subsidy ($1.4 billion in FY2014)

3-year phase-in of $1 billion reduction, beginning with $200 million reduction in FY2015

Adds $100 million to reverse Administration proposal

Adds $200 million to reverse Administration proposal

Adds $190 million to reverse Administration proposal

Housing Allowance for Assignment in U.S. (currently covers 100% of cost)

Gradually reduce rate of growth until allowance covers 95% of cost

Adds $244.7 million to reverse Administration proposal (Section 8136)

Conforms with Administration proposal

Adds $88.0 million as per NDAA provision allowing partial enactment of proposal (Section 8130)

Status of 11 Aegis Cruisers and Three Amphibious Landing Ships near the Midpoint of Expected Service Life

Remove the ships from service and gradually modernize them and put them back into service to replace similar ships as they are retired

Adds $540.0 million for the proposed program but requires that no more than six cruisers at a time be laid-up and for no more than four years each (Section 8105)

Provides that no more than six cruisers at a time be laid up for modernization (Section 8105)

Adds $540 million, requires that no more than six cruisers at a time be laid up for modernization (Section 8110)

Army/National Guard Helicopter Missions

Move all Apache attack helicopters from National Guard units to Army units; reequip some Guard units with Black Hawk utility helicopters

Prohibits removing Apaches from National Guard units until FY2015 NDAA is enacted (Section 8136)

Adds $144 million to buy six Apaches for National Guard (included in OCO funds)

Prohibits removing Apaches from National Guard units until FY2015 NDAA is enacted (Section 8113)

A-10 Ground Attack Aircraft

Retire all A-10s

Prohibits retirement of A-10s (Section 10028)

Adds $325.7 million to continue operating A-10s

Adds $337.1 million for A-10 operations; prohibits retirement (Section 8141)

E-3A AWACS Radar Aircraft

Retire seven (of 31) AWACS

Adds $90.5 million to continue operating all 31 AWACS aircraft

Adds $69.5 million to continue operating all 31 aircraft

Adds $59.5 million for AWACS operations; prohibits retirement of any AWACS

a. NDAA, National Defense Authorization Act; AWACS, airborne warning and control system

Table 3. Selected Congressional Additions to the Administration's Request

Issue

House-Passed
H.R. 4870

Senate
Committee-Reported
H.R. 4870

Final Bill
H.R. 83, Division C

Depot Maintenance (requested $14.0 billion)

Adds $90.0 million

Adds $363.7 million

Adds $139.5 million

Facilities Maintenance, Modernization and Repair (requested $8.2 billion)

Adds $870 million (including $150 million for medical facilities)

Adds $977.3 million

Adds $746.5 million

EF-18G Growler Electronic Warfare Aircraft (Navy)

Adds $975.0 million for 12 Growlers

Adds $1.3 billion for 12 Growlers and sustainment of production line

Adds $1.46 billion for 15 EA-18Gs and sustainment of production line

F-35 Joint Strike Fighter (requested $5.4 billion for 36 aircraft)

Adds $879 million for four additional aircraft (funding a total of 40)

Cuts $296 million for anticipated contract savings

Adds $255 million for two additional aircraft (funding a total of 38)

Prospective Retirement of the Aircraft Carrier U.S.S. George Washington (DOD five-year budget plan assumes the ship would be retired instead of being refueled as previously planned)

Adds $789.3 million to begin refueling and modernizing the ship

Adds $849.0 million to begin refueling and modernizing the ship

Adds $839.3 million to begin refueling and modernizing the carrier

Transport ships for Troops and Combat Equipment

no change

Adds $800.0 million for incremental funding of a $2.0 billion LPD amphibious landing transport and $200 million for a JHSV high-speed transport

Adds $1.0 billion for incremental funding of a $2.0 billion LPD amphibious landing transport and $200 million for a JHSV high-speed transport

Armored Combat Vehicles

Adds $192.0 million to modernize M-1 tanks and buy armored tank recovery vehicles, to sustain the armored vehicle industrial base

Adds $232 million to modernize tanks and Bradley troop carriers and buy armored tank recovery vehicles to sustain industrial base

Adds $220.5 to modernize tanks and Bradleys and buy armored tank recovery vehicles

Accrual Payments to Military Retired Pay Account (budget includes $18.7 billion to cover estimated future payments to current servicemembers)

No change

Adds $507 million to cover the cost of deferring a change in the retired pay COLA formula

Adds $215.3 million

Develop a Replacement for Russian RD-180 Liquid-Fuelled Rocket Engine (used for satellite launches)

Adds $227.0 million to develop a replacement for the Russian-manufactured RD-180 rocket engine used to launch heavy DOD satellites

Adds $25.0 million to develop a replacement for the Russian-manufactured RD-180 rocket engine used to launch heavy DOD satellites

Adds $220.0 million to develop a new launch engine

Equipment for National Guard and Reserve

Adds $2.0 billion in OCO funding

Adds $1.0 billion plus $144 million for National Guard Apache helicopters, all in OCO funding

Adds $2.0 billion in OCO funding plus $378 million in base budget

Medical R&D Projects

Adds $667.8 million

Adds $781.2 million

Adds $1.13 billion

Table 4. Selected Congressional Reductions to the
Administration's FY2015 Request

Issue

House-passed
H.R. 4870

Senate
Committee-reported
H.R. 4870

Final Bill
H.R. 83, Division C

Smaller Civilian Workforce than Budget Assumed

Cuts $592.3million

Cuts 497.9 million

Cuts $673.1 million

Rescission of Funds Appropriated in Prior Budgets (and use of those funds to cover part of the cost of FY2015 request)

Rescinds $964.6 million in the base budget (Section 8039)

Rescinds $1.71 billion in the base budget (Section 8039) and 581.8 million in OCO (Section 9012)

Rescinds $962 million more in base budget funds than budget assumed and rescinds $1.12 billion more in OCO funds than budget assumed