	Most Recent Developments

On October 6, conferees reached agreement on the FY2000 defenseappropriations bill, H.R. The House approved the conference agreement by a vote of 372-55 onOctober 13, and the Senate approved it by a vote of 87-11 on October 14, and thePresident signed the bill into law, P.L. The key issue in theconference concerned funding for the F-22 fighter. The total amount is about $500million below the request ($1.85 billion in procurement and $1.2 billion in R&D). The conference agreement also prohibits award of an initial low-rate productioncontract unless certain testing is successfully completed. A conference report was filed on October 8. The President signed the bill into law, P.L.106-79 , on October 25. The Senate-passed appropriations bill used about $4.9 billion of fundsprovided in the Kosovo supplemental appropriations bill as an offset for defenseincreases and provided a total of $264.7 billion, $1.4 billion above the request. The amount available to DOD and other agencies in the House bill was$5.4 billion above the request and $4.0 billion above the Senate level. The appropriations conference agreement reported on October 8 provides $267.8 billion, $1 billion below the House level and $4.5 billion above the request. In addition to debate about the level of defense spending, several other issues arose early in the session, including 
how much to increase military pay and benefits; 
whether to require deployment of a nationwide missile defense;and
whether to approve military operations against Yugoslavia andhow much money to provide for Kosovo-related operations. The Senate-passed version of the FY2000 defense appropriationsbill, S. 1122 , included increases in various defense programs consistentwith the budget resolution and the defense authorization bills but then used $1.838billion provided in the Kosovo bill for personnel and $3.1 billion in the Kosovo billfor readiness and munitions as offsets for the increases (see Table 2 , above). As in the Senate proposal, it provides for higher than ECI pay raises in thefuture, but it does not expand GI Bill benefits, and it does not provide a highersubsistence allowance. Authorization and appropriations action: Funding for operations against Yugoslavia was a major issue in House action on the FY2000 defenseauthorization bill. Authorization and appropriations action: The conference agreement on the defense appropriations bill provides a total of $2.522 billion for the F-22program, including $1.222 billion for R&D, $1 billion for acquisition of aircraft,and $300 million in advance FY2001 appropriations for program terminationliability. The conference agreementalso prohibits award of an initial low-rate production contract unless certaintesting is successfully completed
Aside from the F-22 debate, all of the defense bills added some funds for weapons procurement and R&D, -- see Table 2, above for a breakdown ofcommittee action by title, and Table A-2 in the appendix for a comparison ofaction on selected acquisition programs. 1555 ,offered by Senator Kyl, to establish an independent organization within theDepartment of Energy to oversee security. Supplemental Appropriations

H.R. Military Base Closures: Time for Another Round? Military Interventions by U.S. a.
On October 6, conferees reached agreement on the FY2000 defense appropriations bill, H.R. 2561 , and the conference report was filed on October 8. The House approved theconference agreement by a vote of 372-55 on October 13, and the Senate approved it by a vote of87 to 11 on October 14, and the President signed the bill into law, P.L. 106-79 , on October 25. Thekey issue in the conference concerned funding for the F-22 fighter. The conference agreementprovides a total of $2.522 billion for the program, including $1.222 billion for R&D, $1 billion foracquisition of test aircraft, and $300 million in advance FY2001 appropriations for programtermination liability. The total amount is about $500 million below the request ($1.85 billion inprocurement and $1.2 billion in R&D). The conference agreement also prohibits award of an initiallow-rate production contract unless certain testing is successfully completed.
Aside from the F-22, major issues in the FY2000 defense debate included whether to approve a new round of military base closures, how much to provide for military pay and benefits, whetherto impose constraints on funding for U.S. military operations in Kosovo, how to fund theater missiledefense programs, and how to respond to security lapses at Department of Energy (DOE) weaponslabs. The conference agreement on the defense authorization bill does not approve a new round ofmilitary base closures. It provides somewhat larger increases in pay and benefits than theAdministration had requested, including a 4.8% pay raise in 2000 and increased retirement benefits,though it does not include a Senate-passed provision to expand Montgomery GI Bill benefits. Although Congress approved supplemental FY1999 appropriations for Kosovo operations, theAdministration's policy remains controversial. The House removed a provision from the defenseauthorization bill prohibiting funds to be used for future operations in Kosovo, but only after theAdministration agreed to seek supplemental appropriations to cover costs of a peacekeeping missionin FY2000. Earlier in the year, both houses approved bills calling for deployment of a nationwidemissile defense, but funding for theater missile defense programs was a matter of dispute. Theauthorization conference agreement establishes an independent organization within DOE to overseesecurity, and the President objected to these provisions even as he signed the bill into law.
Finally, the level of defense spending was resolved only at the very end of the appropriations process. The Senate-passed appropriations bill used about $4.9 billion of funds provided in theKosovo supplemental appropriations bill as an offset for defense increases and provided a net totalof $264.7 billion, $1.4 billion above the request. The House bill provided $268.7 billion in newbudget authority, $5.4 billion above the request and $4.0 billion above the Senate level. Theappropriations conference agreement provides $267.8 billion in FY2000, of which $7.2 billion isdesignated as emergency appropriations.
Key Policy Staff