Analysis of Senate Armed Services Committee Action on FY2009 Defense Authorization Bill (S. 3001)

The Center’s Chris Hellman and Travis Sharp put out their Analysis of Senate Armed Services Committee Action on the FY2009 Defense Authorization Bill (S 3001) yesterday. The full analysis is available here, while an analysis of House action on the FY2009 Defense Authorization is here for comparison.

The Senate Armed Services Committee released its markup of S. 3001, the Fiscal Year (FY) 2009 Defense Authorization bill, on May 1, 2008. The bill, S. 3001, as reported to the full Senate by the Armed Services Committee, fully funds the administration's $612.5 billion FY2009 National Defense request.

S. 3001 provides $542.5 billion for National Defense (function 050), plus $70 billion in "bridge" funding for ongoing military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, for a total of $612.5 billion. Of the $70 billion in war funding, $19.9 billion is for Afghanistan, $49.6 billion is for Iraq, and $500 million is for war-related military construction. $70 billion will not be enough to fund ongoing military operations throughout all of FY2009, but it will, as the Committee's press release notes, "provide sufficient funding to allow the next administration to take office without facing an immediate financial crisis in the DOD budget."

The full Senate may take up consideration of S. 3001 as early as the week of June 16.

Included below are highlights, funding provisions, funding levels, and key policy provisions relating to nuclear weapons and nonproliferation issues.

BASE BUDGET HIGHLIGHTS

Missile Defense – Cuts $270 million from the administration's request for the Missile Defense Agency. Includes an additional $270 million for near-term missile defense capabilities, including Aegis BMD, THAAD, Short-Range BMD, and the Arrow missile program. Places restrictions on the continued development of a third missile defense site based in Europe (see "Key Policy Provisions" below). Eliminates the $10 million request for the Space Test Bed.

Reliable Replacement Warhead (RRW) – Retains the Department of Energy's National Nuclear Security Administration RRW request of $10 million, but eliminates the Navy's RRW request of $23.3 million slated for "Phase 3" engineering development activities.

Nonproliferation Programs – Adds $20 million to the administration's $414.1 million request for DOD's Cooperative Threat Reduction (CTR) ("Nunn-Lugar") program for states of the former Soviet Union. Provides $1.8 billion for the Department of Energy's nonproliferation programs, $552 million above the request.

FUNDING PROVISIONS

DIVISION C
Atomic Energy Defense Activities in the Department of Energy (Budget Function 053)
Administration request: $15.9 billion
Committee: $15.9 billion

MAJOR WEAPONS SYSTEMS

BALLISTIC MISSILE DEFENSE (Missile Defense Agency only)
Administration request: $9.3 billion
Committee: $9.0 billion, $269 million below request

NON-PROLIFERATION PROGRAMS

Department of Energy Nonproliferation Programs
Administration request: $1.247 billion
Committee: $1.799 billion ($552 million above request)

DOD Cooperative Threat Reduction Program ("Nunn-Lugar")
Administration request: $414.1 million
Committee: $434.1 million

DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY NUCLEAR WEAPONS-RELATED ACTIVITIES

National Nuclear Security Administration
Administration request: $9.1 billion
Committee: $9.6 billion, which includes $6.61 billion for "Weapons Activities," $7.4 million below the "Weapons Activities" request
NOTE: $552 million increase in DOE nonproliferation program funding, above, explains growth from $9.1 billion NNSA request to $9.6 billion Committee recommendation)

Defense Environmental Clean-up
Administration request: $5.3 billion
Committee: $5.3 billion

KEY POLICY PROVISIONS

Restriction on Funds for European Missile Defense – Restricts funding for the third missile defense site in Europe until the Polish and Czech governments give final approval. The bill also restricts funding from being obligated until the system has demonstrated through "successful, operationally realistic flight testing, that it has a high probability of accomplishing its mission in an operationally effective manner."

Review of U.S. Ballistic Missile Defense – Requires the Secretary of Defense to conduct a review of the ballistic missile defense policy and strategy of the United States. The review must be submitted to Congress no later than January 31, 2010. The bill also requires an independent assessment of the costs and benefits of boost phase missile defense. The study would be responsible for examining the Airborne Laser and the Kinetic Energy Interceptor programs, among others.