DOD Authorization Bill Passes

[Don Zweifel <zweifel@chapman.edu>]

HR1119 or House Resolution 1119 refers to the final version of the
Conference Report hammered out between both houses on The Hill. 

The DoD Appropriations Bill for fiscal year '98 passed the House and the
Senate and was signed by the President last June. Normally the
Authorization Bill is enacted into public law initially, then the
appropriators propose how the funding is finally to be spent or
appropriated via Appropriations.

This Conference Report passed 286 to 123 at 2100 hrs or 9 PM. EST, Mon. 28
Oct.'97 with 195 Republicans and 91 Democrats voting yea.

The President may veto this according to Rep. Ron Dellums (D. Ca.),
ranking member of the National Security Committee, but the
question is whether the President has enough votes to sustain it. A 2/3
rds plurality in both Houses is required, if I'm not mistaken. 

HR1119 is $2.6 billion more than the Administration requested and $1.7
billion more than the FY '97 Defense Bill. 

A breakdown of the $250.6 billion Authorization Bill follows:

Operations and Maintenance (O&M).................,,,,,,,,$93.8 billion
Note: Environmental clean-up included in O&M. 

Personnel................................................$69.5 "

DOE programs.............................................$11.5 "

Construction/Housing.....................................$ 9.2 "
Note: Includes $1.5 billion for military family housing.

Ballistic Missile Defense................................$ 3.7 "

Weapons Procurement......................................$45.8 "

Research & Development (R&D).............................$36.5 "

Authorizes $331 million for B-2 parts or to repair existing B-2s.

Authorizes a 2.8% pay raise for all armed forces personnel and retirees
(amounts to a COLA or cost-of-living allowance).

Authorizes a reduction in Army National Guard end-strength by 5,000.

Re BRAC '95: A compromise with the Senate appears to have been worked out
for McClellan AFB (near Sacramento, Ca.) and Kelly AFB (near San Antonio,
Tx.) They evidently will remain open but will have to allow 50% of the
"non-core" depot maintenance to go through the outside civilian-sector
contractor bidding process.

Authorizes 1.4 million active-duty military personnel.

Authorizes that the 8,500 US troops now in Bosnia must leave by 30 June
'98 unless President extends (note: At least several million $ per year
are requisitioned from the Environmental Clean-up budget to assist in this
overseas expedition). 

Source: CSPAN
 Don Zweifel