Re: News from Washington.

[gkripke@Essential.ORG]

Posting from Gawain Kripke <gkripke@Essential.ORG>

To: Interested Colleagues
From: Gawain Kripke, Friends of the Earth
RE: News from Washington
Date: July 6, 1995

Last week, the Senate Armed Services Committee "marked up" the Fiscal Year
1996 National Defense Authorization Bill. The actual legislation is not
available, but I think there is good news to report. 

According to a press release and conversations with knowledgable sources
the Committee authorized full funding for the Defense
Environmental Restoration Account (DERA) which funds most Department of
Defense cleanup activities. The Committee provided $1.6 billion for the 
account, the same as the Administration request. 

This compares favorably with the $1.4 billion provided in the House 
legislation, which passed a few weeks ago. 

According to sources, some cuts were made. I am not sure how to 
interpret some of these cuts; I report them as I heard them.

 $15 million cut to DSMOA. $5 million remains.
 $3.5 million cut to RABs (not clear what remaining amount is)
 $1 million cut to HQ

Details about these cuts are not available. In fact, they may not have 
come out of the "bottom line" but, instead are restrictions on how the 
DERA funds can be used. I will provide information as it becomes available.

CLOSING BASES

The bill fully funds the Administration request for the Base Closure and 
Realignment Accounts (BRAC). 

OTHER DOD PROGRAMS

According to sources, $234 million was cut from energy conservation
funding. I am not sure what account(s) this money was taken from. Seems 
like a bad idea since this conservation spending usually pays itself back 
in energy savings.

ASSESSMENT

This is clearly a victory for those of us who want to see continued
progress on military cleanups. The funding authorization is the result of
Senator John McCain, Chairman of the Senate Armed Services Subcommittee on
Readiness. Despite indications early this year that he would seek to cut
environmental spending, Senator McCain is emerging as something of a
champion for the cleanup program. Senator McCain has made a name for
himself (and some enemies) as a reformer on the Armed Services Committee. 
He has spoken about getting rid of "pork-barrel" in the Defense budget. 
His markup was held early last week and was open to the public, apparently
for the first time in anyone's memory. 

SCHEDULE

The full Senate may take the bill up as soon as next week (July 10). 

The Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense is tentatively scheduled
to "mark-up" its bill the last week in July. This could slip - other
Senate Appropriations subcommittees are already saying they will likely
"mark-up" in September, after the August recess. 

The House Appropriations Subcommittee on National Security is scheduled 
to mark up on Tuesday, July 11. I have very little intelligence on this 
Committee.

For more information, please email to foe@essential.org