U.S. Senate passes Mil-Con VA FY2010 Approprations bill
Posted: Wed Nov 18, 2009 12:05 pm
U.S. Senate passes Mil-Con VA FY2010 Approprations bill
Senate Backs $133.9 Billion Military Construction-VA Spending Bill
By Greg Vadala, CQ Staff
The Senate passed the fiscal 2010 Military Construction-VA spending bill Tuesday, after rejecting a controversial amendment related to Guant?!namo Bay, Cuba, detainees.
The measure (HR 3082), passed 100-0, is now headed to conference committee, where negotiators will try to hammer out the differences between the Senate and House versions.
The Senate-passed bill would provide $133.9 billion for the Department of Veterans Affairs, and military construction and housing, including $76.7 billion in discretionary spending and $1.4 billion in overseas contingency funding. Discretionary spending would be $439 million more than President Obama requested.
The House-passed version of the spending bill, approved 415-3, on July 10, would provide a total of $133.7 billion in fiscal 2010, including $77.9 billion in discretionary budget authority.
The Senate version would provide $53.2 billion in discretionary funding for veterans programs, a $150 million boost over the president's request and $4 billion more than fiscal 2009 levels. It would meet the administration's $34.7 billion request for the VA medical services account, including $4.6 billion for mental health care and $2.1 billion for medical care for veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Like the House-passed bill, the Senate version also includes $48.2 billion in advance 2011 funding for certain veterans medical programs. The down payment, which Obama requested, is intended to put the politically sensitive programs on a two-year budget cycle.
"This funding will ensure that the VA has a predictable stream of funding and that medical services will not be adversely affected should another stopgap funding measure be needed in the future," said Tim Johnson, D-S.D., chairman of the Appropriations Military Construction-VA Subcommittee.
The Senate-passed bill would incrementally fund a National Security Agency data collection facility based at Camp Williams in Utah, renewing a longstanding debate between the executive and legislative branches.
While the bill received a "strongly" supportive statement of administration policy Nov. 5, the White House Office of Management and Budget expressed concern about incremental funding of large construction projects, such as the one the bill would provide for the Utah facility.
The Senate version would provide $700 million for the cybersecurity data center, which is 12.5 percent less than Obama's $800 million request. The House bill would provide about $500 million for the facility, which is expected to cost about $1.5 billion to complete.
On Tuesday, Senators voted 57-43 to table, or kill, a measure by James M. Inhofe, R-Okla., that would have prohibited funding to build facilities in the United States to hold detainees from the Guant?!namo detention center.
"It would prohibit the Obama administration from upgrading security at any facility in the United States where a Guant?!namo detainee would be held," said Majority Whip Richard J. Durbin, D-Ill. "That is unwise and unprecedented. It certainly is not in the best interest of the homeland security of the United States."
In an effort to focus the detainee debate on a single amendment, senators reached an agreement Monday to have a competing amendment by Jim DeMint, R-S.C., withdrawn. That amendment would have prohibited the bill from funding the transfer of detainees unless other programs, such as health care and assistance for veterans suffering from traumatic brain injuries, are fully funded.
By a vote of 98-1, the Senate adopted an amendment by Johnson that would set aside $50 million for the renovation of 40 to 50 vacant buildings on VA campuses nationwide. Local organizations would use those buildings to help the estimated 131,000 homeless veterans. The amendment would be offset by a reduction of the same amount to the homeowners assistance fund, which provides mortgage relief to military families required to relocate. Oklahoma Republican Tom Coburn was the lone senator to vote against the amendment.
By voice vote, the chamber approved an amendment that would reprogram $68.5 million in fiscal 2009 money to upgrade a missile defense testing facility at the Pacific Missile Range Facility in Hawaii. The amendment - by Appropriations Chairman Daniel K. Inouye, D-Hawaii - was offered at the director of the Missile Defense Agency's request.
John McCain of Arizona, the ranking Republican on the Armed Services Committee, withdrew a second-degree amendment that would have allowed the Pentagon to reallocate the $68.5 million but not spend it until Congress enacted legislation authorizing the expenditure.
McCain withdrew the measure because Inouye modified his amendment in a way that would require a separate authorizing bill for the project, effectively meeting the requirements of McCain's proposal.
Also by voice vote, the Senate adopted an amendment by Russ Feingold, D-Wis., that would make available $5 million for grants to state and local government entities or their designees to conduct outreach to veterans in underserved areas.
On Monday, the Senate adopted, 93-0, an amendment by Coburn that would require each federal agency submitting a report to an appropriations committee to post it on their Web site unless it contains proprietary information or if it would compromise national security.
The Senate rejected, by a vote of 24-69, a motion offered by Coburn to commit the bill to the Appropriations Committee and add language to increase funding for the care of disabled veterans and payments to caregivers, offset by a reduction in funding for earmarks not requested by the president.
The Military Construction-VA bill is the ninth of the 12 annual spending bills that the Senate has passed this year. Both chambers have passed the Transportation-HUD (HR 3288) and Defense (HR 3326) appropriations measures, but conference reports have not been completed. The Senate has not considered its versions of the Labor-HHS-Education (HR 3293), Financial Services (HR 3170) or State-Foreign Operations (HR 3081) bills.
Eugene Mulero, Frank Oliveri and Emily Ethridge contributed to this story.
Senate Backs $133.9 Billion Military Construction-VA Spending Bill
By Greg Vadala, CQ Staff
The Senate passed the fiscal 2010 Military Construction-VA spending bill Tuesday, after rejecting a controversial amendment related to Guant?!namo Bay, Cuba, detainees.
The measure (HR 3082), passed 100-0, is now headed to conference committee, where negotiators will try to hammer out the differences between the Senate and House versions.
The Senate-passed bill would provide $133.9 billion for the Department of Veterans Affairs, and military construction and housing, including $76.7 billion in discretionary spending and $1.4 billion in overseas contingency funding. Discretionary spending would be $439 million more than President Obama requested.
The House-passed version of the spending bill, approved 415-3, on July 10, would provide a total of $133.7 billion in fiscal 2010, including $77.9 billion in discretionary budget authority.
The Senate version would provide $53.2 billion in discretionary funding for veterans programs, a $150 million boost over the president's request and $4 billion more than fiscal 2009 levels. It would meet the administration's $34.7 billion request for the VA medical services account, including $4.6 billion for mental health care and $2.1 billion for medical care for veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Like the House-passed bill, the Senate version also includes $48.2 billion in advance 2011 funding for certain veterans medical programs. The down payment, which Obama requested, is intended to put the politically sensitive programs on a two-year budget cycle.
"This funding will ensure that the VA has a predictable stream of funding and that medical services will not be adversely affected should another stopgap funding measure be needed in the future," said Tim Johnson, D-S.D., chairman of the Appropriations Military Construction-VA Subcommittee.
The Senate-passed bill would incrementally fund a National Security Agency data collection facility based at Camp Williams in Utah, renewing a longstanding debate between the executive and legislative branches.
While the bill received a "strongly" supportive statement of administration policy Nov. 5, the White House Office of Management and Budget expressed concern about incremental funding of large construction projects, such as the one the bill would provide for the Utah facility.
The Senate version would provide $700 million for the cybersecurity data center, which is 12.5 percent less than Obama's $800 million request. The House bill would provide about $500 million for the facility, which is expected to cost about $1.5 billion to complete.
On Tuesday, Senators voted 57-43 to table, or kill, a measure by James M. Inhofe, R-Okla., that would have prohibited funding to build facilities in the United States to hold detainees from the Guant?!namo detention center.
"It would prohibit the Obama administration from upgrading security at any facility in the United States where a Guant?!namo detainee would be held," said Majority Whip Richard J. Durbin, D-Ill. "That is unwise and unprecedented. It certainly is not in the best interest of the homeland security of the United States."
In an effort to focus the detainee debate on a single amendment, senators reached an agreement Monday to have a competing amendment by Jim DeMint, R-S.C., withdrawn. That amendment would have prohibited the bill from funding the transfer of detainees unless other programs, such as health care and assistance for veterans suffering from traumatic brain injuries, are fully funded.
By a vote of 98-1, the Senate adopted an amendment by Johnson that would set aside $50 million for the renovation of 40 to 50 vacant buildings on VA campuses nationwide. Local organizations would use those buildings to help the estimated 131,000 homeless veterans. The amendment would be offset by a reduction of the same amount to the homeowners assistance fund, which provides mortgage relief to military families required to relocate. Oklahoma Republican Tom Coburn was the lone senator to vote against the amendment.
By voice vote, the chamber approved an amendment that would reprogram $68.5 million in fiscal 2009 money to upgrade a missile defense testing facility at the Pacific Missile Range Facility in Hawaii. The amendment - by Appropriations Chairman Daniel K. Inouye, D-Hawaii - was offered at the director of the Missile Defense Agency's request.
John McCain of Arizona, the ranking Republican on the Armed Services Committee, withdrew a second-degree amendment that would have allowed the Pentagon to reallocate the $68.5 million but not spend it until Congress enacted legislation authorizing the expenditure.
McCain withdrew the measure because Inouye modified his amendment in a way that would require a separate authorizing bill for the project, effectively meeting the requirements of McCain's proposal.
Also by voice vote, the Senate adopted an amendment by Russ Feingold, D-Wis., that would make available $5 million for grants to state and local government entities or their designees to conduct outreach to veterans in underserved areas.
On Monday, the Senate adopted, 93-0, an amendment by Coburn that would require each federal agency submitting a report to an appropriations committee to post it on their Web site unless it contains proprietary information or if it would compromise national security.
The Senate rejected, by a vote of 24-69, a motion offered by Coburn to commit the bill to the Appropriations Committee and add language to increase funding for the care of disabled veterans and payments to caregivers, offset by a reduction in funding for earmarks not requested by the president.
The Military Construction-VA bill is the ninth of the 12 annual spending bills that the Senate has passed this year. Both chambers have passed the Transportation-HUD (HR 3288) and Defense (HR 3326) appropriations measures, but conference reports have not been completed. The Senate has not considered its versions of the Labor-HHS-Education (HR 3293), Financial Services (HR 3170) or State-Foreign Operations (HR 3081) bills.
Eugene Mulero, Frank Oliveri and Emily Ethridge contributed to this story.