Senate Appropriations Committee Hearing

6/11/15

The Senate Appropriations Committee met to resolve funding for matters of defense, commerce, justice and science, and other legislative matters. Vice-chairwoman Sen. Mikulski noted that the sequester leaves insufficient funds for concerns of defense but Chairman Sen. Cochran asserted that a warning from the president that he will veto a bill does not constitute a legitimate reason for the senate to fail to bring the bill to the floor for a vote.

$575.9 billion was made available for consideration by the senate including an allocation of $213.9 billion for readiness, $2.37 billion for various aircraft procurement expenditures, $18.2 billion for shipbuilding, $8.3 billion for the Missile Defense Agency and an additional $329.8 million for Israeli missile defense, $200 million for Patriot Missiles for the army and $140 million for TOW Missiles for the marine Corps and $30 million for Tomahawk Missiles for the Navy, $1 billion for the National Guard and the Army Reserve, $228.5 million for basic research investments, $143.6 million for the Air Force to develop an alternative to the Russian engine currently used, $350 million for Unmanned Carrier Launched Airborne Surveillance and Strike System, $200 million for cyber vulnerability assessment, $76 million for troops’ and families’ matters, $32.5 billion for the Defense Health Program, $36.5 billion for Overseas Contingency Operations (Defense Appropriations News Release, 2-4). The Defense Appropriations bill was approved with 27 ayes and 3 nays.

$8.5 billion was allocated to the Department of Commerce including $250 million for the Economic Development Administration, $3.3 billion for the Patent and Trademark Office, $893 million to the national Institute of Standards and Technology, $5.4 billion to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and $1.1 billion to the Census Bureau. The Department of Justice was allocated 27.8 billion including $8.5 billion for the FBI, $2.41 billion to the Drug Enforcement Administration, $2.66 for the United States Marshall’s Service, $1.97 billion to U.S. Attorneys, $7 billion to the Federal Prisons System, 2.3 billion to the Law Enforcement Grant Programs and $2.6 billion to the Crime Victims Fund. For science matters, $18.3 billion was allocated including $1.9 billion for the Space Launch System, $1.2 billion for the Orion crewed spacecraft, $5.3 billion for missions throughout the solar system, $2.5 billion to the International Space Station and $600 million for space technology. The Commerce, Justice and Science Appropriations Bill was approved with 27 ayes and 3 nays (CJS Appropriations News Release, 2-4).

$4.309 billion was allocated to the Legislative Branch including $870.2 million to the U.S. Senate, $366.5 million to U.S. Capitol Police, $579.4 million to the Architect of the Capitol, $593.2 million to the Library of Congress, $525 million to the Government Accountability

Office, $119 million to the Government Publishing Office and $1.25 million to the 2017 Presidential Inauguration. In keeping with past precedent, the Senate made no change to the previous year’s amount allocated to the House of Representatives. The Legislative Branch Appropriations Bill was approved with 27 ayes and 3 nays (Legislative Appropriations News Release, 1-2).

An amendment was proposed, which provided for the transfer of prisoners to facilities on U.S. soil. It was questioned whether funding the detainment of prisoners at Guantanamo at a cost of $3.2 million per prisoner, per year should continue in lieu detaining threatening individuals at maximum security U.S. facilities or military facilities such as Fort Leavenworth, Kansas at a cost of only $78,000 per prisoner, per year. The argument was made that this money ought to be spent on troops, not detainees and it was said that the cost of detaining prisoners at Guantanamo was rising. However, the rationality of transferring terrorist prisoners to an alternate facility was called into question when it was noted that there is no clear plan in place to make such a transfer, and it is therefore impossible to know the specific logistic and legal concerns clearly enough to make a knowledgeable decision. The amendment was rejected by a vote of 14 ayes and 16 nays.

An amendment was proposed by Senator Murkowski to provide for Artic concerns such as the purchase of an ice-cutter under the rational that such an item should be viewed as a national asset, and such concerns are national concerns. This amendment was not accepted by a vote of 14 ayes and 16 nays.

An amendment proposed by Senator Mikulski to allocate an additional $322 million to the Defense Commissary Agency was passed by a voice vote. This amendment also reduced spending for spare parts by $161 million and increased Foreign Currency Fluctuation savings by $161 million.

Another amendment was proposed to limit funds for the deployment of combat troops concerning dealing with ISIS. The amendment was rejected by a vote of 9 ayes and 21 nays.

–Stephen Shaw (6/11/15)