Hill finishing Work on '06 Defense Authorizations.

• Author: Steffes, Peter M.
• Position: GOVERNMENT POLICY NOTES - National Defense Authorization Act 2006

Congress at press time was preparing to complete its action on the 2006 National Defense Authorization Act.

The House of Representatives passed its version on May 25 by a vote of 390 to 39. The full Senate was scheduled to take up its bill in June. After that, the two houses will appoint members to a conference committee to work out the differences between the two measures.

Congress' goal is to send the legislation to the White House for signature before the August recess, scheduled to begin on July 28. Here is how the two versions compare:

Overall Funding Levels. Both the Senate and the House authorized $441.6 billion for the Defense Department and for the national security programs of the Energy Department, an increase of $21 billion--or 3.1 percent above the amount provided for 2005--and $20.9 billion more than in 2004. In addition, both bills contained $50 billion in supplemental funding that will be needed early in 2006 to pay for un-programmed costs of operations in Iraq, Afghanistan and the global war on terrorism.

Unlike the annual defense appropriations bill, authorization legislation includes military construction, which this year is set by both houses at $12 billion. Appropriations for military construction are provided in a stand-alone appropriations bill.

Authorization legislation sets amounts that government organizations, including the Pentagon, can spend on specific programs. Appropriations bills provide the actual funds for those programs.

In addition, both Senate and House bills include a 3.1 percent across the board pay raise for military personnel. Other significant aspects of the two bills are as follows.

The Senate added:

* $586.4 million for combating terrorism.

* $1.4 billion for force-protection gear.

* $336.7 million to accelerate the CVN-78 next-generation aircraft carrier, LHA(R) amphibious-assault-ship replacement programs and the second ship in the DD(X) class of destroyers.

* $115.4 million for unmanned aerial vehicles.

* $246.8 Million for Navy and Marine Corps research and development programs.

It fully funded the Army's Future Combat Systems, at $3.4 billion, and the Air Force's F/A-22 Raptor aircraft, at $3.7 billion, programs.

The House added:

* $735 million for nine additional C-130J transport aircraft.

* $250 million for armor for Army vehicles.

* $2.5 billion for two additional DDG-51 Aegis-class destroyers.

* $418 million for construction of the LHA(R) replacement.

* $384.4 million for an additional...