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This Statement of Administration Policy provides the
Administration's views on the Military Construction Appropriations Bill, FY
2001, as reported by the House Appropriations Committee. Your consideration of
the Administration's views would be appreciated.
Overall Funding Level and Unrequested Projects
The Administration commends the Committee for reporting a bill
that funds almost all of the construction projects requested in the President's
FY 2001 Budget. Especially noteworthy is the full funding of the requests for
Chemical Demilitarization and Base Realignment and Closure. However, the
Administration is concerned that the overall funding level of the Committee
bill would drain critical resources from other programs. The Administration
believes that the President's budget request correctly addresses our most
important FY 2001 military construction and housing needs and that additional
funding is not required.
The Administration questions the Committee's increase of $600
million to the funding level requested in the President's budget. Within this
overall net increase, the Committee has funded 130 projects costing about $836
million that were not requested in the President's budget. A majority of these
projects, 75 costing about $403 million, are not funded in DoD's Future Years
Defense Program (FYDP). The Department of Defense has a rigorous process for
selecting projects to be included in the FYDP and the budget. This process
takes into account safety, health, environmental, and military utility issues
to determine the highest priority projects. Substituting projects not in the
FYDP for those included in the FYDP undermines the careful prioritization
approved by the military services. The Administration urges the Committee to
delete funding added for unrequested projects, especially those not in the
FYDP.
Ballistic Missile Defense Organization Construction
Program
The Committee has reduced the construction request for the
Ballistic Missile Defense Organization (BMDO) by $20 million. The
Administration urges the Committee to fully fund the President's request for
this program, $103.5 million. These funds are essential to preserving the
President's options for deploying a national missile defense system. If any of
these funds are not used for deployment, we will work with Congress using
established procedures to ensure that these funds are used for other high
priority Department of Defense construction projects. The Department of Defense
is providing the Military Construction Appropriations Subcommittee additional
justification materials for the BMDO construction request.
NATO Security Investment Program
The Committee bill reduces the request for the NATO Security
Investment Program (NSIP) by $12.5 million. The Administration urges the
Committee to provide the $190 million requested in the President's budget to
support critical NATO operations fully. Moreover, the Administration objects to
section 124 of the Committee bill, which would prohibit the use of NSIP funds
or other funds provided in the bill for use in Partnership for Peace programs
in the New Independent States of the former Soviet Union. While we believe this
provision would have no practical effect in the short term, if this provision
became a permanent fixture in future Military Construction Appropriations Acts,
it could adversely affect future U.S. foreign policy initiatives as well as
future NATO-led operations. The Administration urges the Committee to delete
this restriction from the bill.
Energy Conservation Investment Program
The Committee has reduced the Energy Conservation Investment
Program (ECIP) request in its entirety ($33.6 million), citing large
unobligated balances in this program. This program has proven its worth by
financing capital improvements that yield significant energy savings to the
Department and help in the elimination of inefficient and high-maintenance
energy systems. Moreover, actual ECIP unobligated balances are much lower than
those portrayed by the Subcommittee and are likely to be exhausted by the end
of the fiscal year. This is due to the Congress' elimination of the FY 2000
ECIP budget request and proactive efforts by DoD to reduce unobligated balances
by aggressively pursuing the execution of ECIP projects. Thus, the proposed
reduction would effectively result in a pause of the ECIP program. The
Administration urges that funding be restored to this program to ensure its
continuity and benefit to DoD. |
