Senate Panel Approves Defense Spending Bill

On August 2, the Senate Appropriations Committee approved, 30-0, the FY2013 Defense spending bill (as-yet-unnumbered); the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense approved the measure on July 31. The House approved its version of the legislation (H.R. 5856) on July 19 (see The Source, 7/20/12).

The bill would provide $511.2 billion in Department of Defense base budget funding for FY2013, $6.9 billion less than FY2012 and $4.9 billion below President Obama’s FY2013 budget request. The measure would include an additional $93.3 billion for overseas contingency operations, primarily for ongoing operations in Afghanistan.

According to the subcommittee summary, the measure would “fully fund family support programs and provide enhancements for programs such as Impact Aid and the Educational Partnership Program that assist military dependent students.” The legislation would include a 1.7 percent pay raise for military personnel, equal to the president’s request.

According to the committee report, women servicemembers have unique health needs that must be met in order for women to be “fully integrated and effective members of the military” (p. 231). The committee encourages the Department of Defense to implement the recommendations of the Army’s Women’s Health Task Force, which include “ensuring deployment comfort packs include gender-specific items for health and hygiene; ensuring all primary care providers, including those in far forward environments, are trained to diagnose and treat common women’s health issues such as menstrual cycle control, contraception, and common urogenital conditions; and ensuring proper supplies and equipment are available to accommodate the needs of female servicemembers” (p. 231).

Additionally, the legislation would include $672.977 million for research and development within the Defense Health Program, equal to the president’s request and $594 million below FY2012. Specifically, peer-reviewed breast cancer research programs would receive $120 million, equal to FY2012, and ovarian cancer research programs would receive $10 million, $6 million below FY2012; the president’s request did not include specific funding for these programs (p. 227).

The chart below compares funding for programs in the Senate bill to the House bill (H.R. 5856), FY2012 spending levels, and the president’s request.

*Does not include funding for Overseas Contingency Operations (OCO).