Statement of Administration Policy: H.R. 3116 - Department of Defense Appropriations Bill, FY 1994

(Senate Floor)
(Sponsors: Byrd (D), West Virginia; Inouye (D), Hawaii)

This Statement of Administration Policy provides the Administration's views on H.R. 3116, the Department of Defense Appropriations Bill, FY 1994/ as reported by the Senate Appropriations Committee. Although the Administration generally supports H.R. 3116, the Senate is urged to address the concerns described below.

The Administration would oppose any amendment that would limit the President's flexibility to complete the mission to Somalia.

The Administration is pleased with the Committee's support for the Administration's investment program and key defense acquisition programs, such as the D-5 missile, B-2 bomber, and C-17 aircraft. The Administration would oppose an amendment to reduce funding for the Trident D-5 submarine-launched missile.

The Administration strongly supports the Committee's requirement for competitive award of defense Technology Reinvestment Program funds. However, the Administration urges the Senate to support the $575 million funding level approved by the House.

The Administration urges the Senate to delete funding for unrequested items and to provide funding above the Committee's proposed levels for the following high priority programs:

• Increase in Operations and Maintenance (O&M) in Lieu of Global Cooperative Initiatives (GCI). With respect to the Administration's request for $448 million for GCI, the Committee only approved $43 million for humanitarian assistance. The Administration urges the Senate to appropriate the remaining $400 million to appropriate O&M accounts to be used under existing authorities for GCI-type purposes;
  
  
• Research and Development Programs. The Committee's 13 percent reduction from the President's request for R&D funding would terminate or slow work on many important programs (e.g., F-22 tactical fighter, B-1B bomber, and V-22 aircraft) and cause significant delay to science and technology and dual-use programs:
  
  
• Intelligence Programs. Any cut in funding greater than the cuts proposed in the Intelligence Authorization bill would seriously erode U.S. intelligence capabilities;
  
  
• Ballistic Missile Defense. The Committee's deep funding cut/ coupled with its many restrictions, would impede the Department's ability to restructure the program, especially for theater missile defense, consistent with the Bottom Up Review;
  
  
• Counterproliferation programs. The funds requested in the President's budget are essential to U.S. efforts to stem the spread of weapons of mass destruction throughout the world and to counter their military effects.

The Administration strongly objects to section 8051 which would prohibit military and civilian medical personnel reductions in total and at certain defense installations. This provision would protect — inappropriately — from-implementation of the National Performance Review and the President's Executive Order on Federal workforce reduction, an estimated 166,000 positions. Consistent with recent decisions by Congress to strike such mandated personnel floors, the Senate is urged to delete section 8051.

The Administration is concerned with the Committee's addition of funds for programs that were not requested by the President, including: AH-64 helicopters, TOW missiles, MLRS Rockets, tactical airlift aircraft, E-8 Joint STARS aircraft, and Guard and Reserve equipment. These are not high priority programs.

The Administration understands that, based on CBO scoring, deep cuts in research and development (R&D) and in operations and maintenance (O&M) were required to meet the outlay targets assigned to the Defense Appropriations Subcommittee. At the same time the Subcommittee chose to redirect the budget authority to procure in FY 1994 an aircraft carrier currently projected for FY 1995.     The Administration continues to urge the Congress to modify, consistent with past practice, the outlay scoring within the bill so that outlays are available to fund high priority R&D and O&M programs consistent with the original budget submission.

The Administration opposes the Committee's proposed acceleration of troop withdrawal from Europe. The Senate is urged to allow the Department of Defense to determine the pace of the troop drawdown in Europe.

The Administration appreciates the approval of funding in FY 1994 for former Soviet Union threat reduction. However, the Senate is urged to extend the FY 1992 transfer authority as requested in the President's budget. This extension in combination with the new authority and that contained in the FY 1993 Department of Defense Appropriations Act is required to support demilitarization efforts in the former Soviet Union.

The Administration opposes the committee's proposal to eliminate the Defense Nuclear Agency (DNA) and to reassign DNA's functions to other organizations. DNA performs important work in evaluating the effects of nuclear weapons on defense systems and providing critical technical assistance in implementing arms control treaties.

The Administration does not support Section 1054 establishing a program for loan guarantees for defense exports. It is not clear how large the export market will be in an era of shrinking global defense budgets. Moreover, it is not yet clear that such a facility is needed now, given strong market presence for U.S. defense technologies and uncertainty about competitor's responses to such a facility. As now defined, the legislation guarantees loans for sales only to allies that are unlikely to need financial incentives. The Department is examining this issue and will be prepared to offer views on the desirability of such a program as part of the FY 1995 President's Budget.

The Administration strongly supports the continued inclusion of $7.5 million in the Advanced Research Project Agency (ARPA) budget for seismic monitoring. Any reduction in these funds would seriously threaten our efforts in the Conference on Disarmament to negotiate an effectively verifiable Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty.