The House Appropriations Committee today boosted the total of what the Obama administration promises will be the last emergency supplemental bill to nearly $96.7 billion. In its markup of the legislation, the committee redirected $2.5 billion saved from DOD’s 2009 budget toward military personnel needs.
A manager’s amendment introduced by Chairman David Obey (D-WI) rescinded money for items including Army SINCGARS radios and added money for replacement wings for P-3 Orion airplanes. It also inserted text into the report encouraging DOD to “explore” purchasing additional F-18 aircraft under a multi-year procurement program.
Many of the amendments introduced involved the closure of the Guantanamo Bay prison, for which the administration added—and the committee cut–$80 million. Other spending-related provisions required a cost analysis of the troubled NPOESS satellite program and cut more than $150 million for a National Security Agency data center in Utah, an “unauthorized” project lawmakers said wasn’t well-planned.
Despite a pledge not to earmark the legislation, lawmakers still managed to add billlons in “committee imperatives,” highlighted below. We’ll see what happens when the bill hits the House floor next week.
Additions for the Defense Department:
- $2.25 billion for eight C-17 Globemasters
- $904 million for variants to 11 C-130J planes
- $175 million for H-1 helicopters
- $90 million for three CH-47 helicopters
- $432 million to modernize 24 AH-64 Apache helicopters for the Army National Guard
- $244 million for Bradley Fighting Vehicles
- $190 million for UAVs including MQ-9 Reapers and MQ-1 Predators
- $2.1 billion for 800 MRAPs
- $338 million for 225 Stryker ambulances and 35 Engineer Squad vehicles
Additions for State, Foreign Operations and other activities:
- $214 million for troop housing in Afghanistan
- $422 million for diplomatic and security operations in Iraq ($336 million) and Afghanistan ($86 million), including public diplomacy
- $91 million for embassy construction and renovation in Pakistan
- $300 million for Global Health and Child Survival, including $200 million to track and contain swine flu in developing countries
- $94 million to aid Mexico in fighting drug violence, including three Black Hawk helicopters and $310 million for foreign military fincancing
- $260 million for foreign military financing to Egypt




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