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For Immediate Release
{April 15, 2011}
{LEANER FY 2011 DEFENSE SPENDING BILL
STILL FUNDS TOP COMMITTEE PRIORITIES}
WASHINGTON, D.C. – {The final version of the federal government spending bill adopted Thursday by both houses of Congress includes a defense funding bill that “represents a prudent and cost-effective response to our nation’s defense requirements,” said U.S. Rep. Norm Dicks (D-Wash.). “It is essentially the same bill that our subcommittee developed last year on a bipartisan basis and negotiated with the Senate, though it is somewhat leaner because of the need for the Pentagon to play a role in achieving deficit reduction at this time,” he said.
Rep. Dicks, who serves this year as the ranking Democratic member of the House Defense Appropriations Subcommittee and of the full Appropriations Committee, chaired the defense panel in the last Congress. He said the final version of the bill remains true to all of the priorities he had established as chairman, and he credited Rep. Bill Young (R-FL), now chairing the panel, for his consistent leadership.
“We worked together to provide sufficient funding for the troops and for their medical care as we are engaged in two wars. We fought for funds to modernize defense weapons systems, to upgrade our Special Forces capability, to spur innovation among small businesses working competing for defense work, and to give the National Guard better equipment with which to train and fight,” he said.
The congressman said he worked with his Republican counterpart and Senate leadership to find reductions in the defense budget that would not affect readiness or where funds were not expressly required in the current fiscal year. He noted that the final version of the bill is nearly $17 billion less than the amount requested last year by President Obama, but that all of the reductions received bipartisan agreement.
Among the Subcommittee’s top priorities funded in the bill are the following:
PEOPLE
This year’s defense bill fully funds the pay and benefits for the end strength levels requested by the Administration. In doing so it helps toward a better balance between periods of deployments and time at home --essential to maintaining good morale and the well-being of individuals. In addition, while the practice of extending tours through stop loss has largely ended, the bill gives troops an additional $500 per month for those whose tours were involuntarily extended by the stop-loss procedures.
SPECIAL FORCES
U.S. Special Operations Forces remain one of the most continually deployed elements of our military on a broad spectrum of missions. They are engaged every day in Afghanistan, Iraq, Yemen and the Horn of Africa inflicting substantial losses against the leadership and operational capacity of alQaeda and its violent extremist affiliates, for example. The bill provides $250 million in additional funding to meet the requirements of Special Operations Command that may have arisen since the President’s budget was submitted.
INNOVATION FUNDING
One of the initiatives Rep. Dicks launched last year was an effort to ensure that creative and innovative solutions find their way into the research, development and procurement areas of the Department of Defense. Small businesses have in the past struggled to get proposals considered properly by the Department, which often has lacked the resources to take innovative ideas to a level of technical maturity to be incorporated into existing programs. The bill establishes a new fund, totaling $499.2 million, divided into research and development and procurement. Of the $315 million for R&D innovation, $105 million will be allocated to each of the three military departments. In addition, another $124.2 million will be directed to the Office of the Secretary of Defense to distribute for innovation research and development. Of the $60 million in procurement funds, $15 million will go to each military department, and another $15 million is directed to the Secretary. The Pentagon is also directed in the bill to develop general guidance for execution of the funds across the Department.
NATIONAL GUARD AND RESERVE EQUIPMENT ACCOUNT
Recent military conflicts have demonstrated that the capabilities of National Guard units are an essential component of today’s warfighting capabilities. In recent years, the Congress has included funds to address shortfalls in equipment needed to allow reserve forces to be adequately equipped to respond to the missions that they may be called to perform. The defense funding bill adds $850 million this year above the Administration’s request to continue making significant investments in new equipment for National Guard and Reserve units.
MODERNIZATION
Developing and procuring new cutting-edge military weapons systems has often suffered because of the current demands on the Pentagon budget, and the subcommittee made an effort last year to encourage investments for the future. Two noteworthy programs are the Next Generation Bomber program, funded at $199 million, and the effort to develop a follow-on submarine that will replace the fleet of Trident ballistic missile subs when they retire, funded at $564.7 million. Another program, the Navy’s P-8A Poseidon aircraft, represents a unique application of commercial derivative technology to address military requirements in a cost-effective manner. The P-8A moves the intelligence and surveillance capabilities of the older propeller-driven P-3 Orion anti-submarine aircraft to the two-engine Boeing 737 jet airframe increasing range and other capabilities. The defense bill adds a total of $2.897 billion for the new maritime surveillance aircraft. Of the total, $1.968 billion will be for procurement and $929 million will pay for continued research and development of the plane.
“I am encouraged that even with the savings that we were able to realize for our deficit reduction effort, we were able to preserve all of the major priorities we established last year and we have provide a level of funding that allows the Defense Department to meet all of its commitments,” Rep. Dicks said.}
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