Download Locations

• Open CRS (User submitted)

Summary

On April 9, 2009, the White House sent Congress a request for $83.4 billion in supplemental appropriations for defense, foreign affairs, domestic fire fighting, and some other purposes for the remainder of FY2009. Of the total, $75.5 billion is for Department of Defense and intelligence activities related to operations in Iraq and Afghanistan; $3.7 billion, offset by $3.4 billion of rescissions, is for other defense programs; $7.1 billion is for international affairs; $250 million is for domestic fire fighting; $137 million is for national security-related programs in the Department of Energy and the Department of Justice, $2.9 million is for National Security Council Operations, and $72 million is for the Legislative Branch for Capitol Hill Police radios. These amounts are being requested in addition to $70 billion in FY2009 supplemental funding for defense and foreign affairs that Congress approved in June, 2008. In P.L. 110-252 (H.R. 2462), which was signed into law on June 30, Congress provided a supplemental defense bridge fund of $65.9 billion to cover costs of military operations through the first several months of FY2009 and also appropriated $4.0 billion in emergency supplemental FY2009 funds for foreign affairs. Amounts for defense in the bridge fund and in the regular FY2009 defense appropriations act, (P.L. 110-161, H.R. 2764), were expected to be sufficient to finance Army and Marine Corps operations through about June of this year. In testimony before the House Budget Committee on March 18, 2009, Defense Department Comptroller Robert Hale urged Congress to approve supplemental funding before the Memorial Day recess in order to avoid financial disruptions. The new request, together with the enacted $65.9 billion bridge fund, will bring total supplemental defense funding for FY2009 to $145 billion. Though this is a substantial amount, it is significantly less than $170 billion that Congress provided in FY2007 and $187 billion in FY2008. The decline does not reflect the withdrawal of U.S. forces from Iraq, which has only begun. Rather, the change is due almost entirely to a reduction in the amount requested for weapons procurement, which falls from $64 billion in FY2008 to $28 billion in FY2009. A large part of the decline in procurement, in turn, is due to a substantial cut in acquisition of Mine Resistant Ambush-Protected (MRAP) vehicles, which were purchased in very large numbers in FY2008. In preliminary statements about the defense supplemental, Representative Murtha, the Chairman of the House Defense Appropriations Subcommittee, and Senator Inouye, the Chairman of the Senate panel, both announced plans to add significant amounts to the request for major weapon systems. Additions that have been mentioned include funding for a new mid-air refueling tanker for the Air Force, the multi-service F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, Navy F/A-18E/F Super Hornet fighters, one Navy E-2D radar plane, and Army Stryker wheeled armored vehicles. Funds might also be added to military personnel accounts to cover monthly stipends of up to $500 for service members prevented from leaving at the end of their enlistments by stop loss orders. The Administration request includes funds for 4 Air Force F-22 fighters, although on April 6, Secretary of Defense Gates announced plans to end the program. Funding for a new aerial tanker could be a matter of debate, particularly if the defense subcommittees provide that purchases be split between the two competing bidders.

Related Legislation:
• H.R.2462
• H.R.2764

XML