[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 134 (Thursday, August 10, 1995)]
[Senate]
[Pages S12212-S12213]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


                           AMENDMENT NO. 2390

  Mr. LAUTENBERG. Mr. President, I am pleased to join with the Senator 
from New Mexico in offering this amendment. The amendment itself is 
simple: it would appropriate the funds that the Pentagon will need to 
cover the costs of ongoing operations in Iraq, Bosnia, and Guantanamo 
for fiscal year 1996.
  This amendment is offered to deal fiscally responsibly with existing 
commitments and to address a vital readiness issue.
  Now some may be surprised by the omission of such an appropriation in 
this bill. It is, after all, a bill to appropriate funds for fiscal 
year 1996 for military activities of the Department of Defense.
  The operations in Iraq, Bosnia, and Guantanamo are certainly 
``military activities.'' They are activities which we know will be 
conducted in fiscal year 1996. Yet the bill before us does not provide 
funding for those operations.
  There is, unfortunately, a precedent for such omissions. For several 
years, the Congress and Presidents from both parties have gotten into 
the habit of paying for these continuing military operations by going 
outside the regular budget process. Although the Department of Defense 
knew that it would have to pay the bills for these existing operations, 
it did not budget for them as I believe it should. Consequently, the 
Congress did not step up to the problem either. We did not include 
funding for them in our authorization and appropriations bills. 
Instead, typically, a few months after the fiscal year began, 
administrations would come to Congress and ask for supplemental funding 
for the operations. And Congress would provide the funds.
  In the past, that was an easier decision to make. Supplemental 
spending was often added to the deficit. But the rules have changed, 
Mr. President. Supplemental requests, we have decided, ought not just 
be added to the tab. They have to be offset by reductions elsewhere. 
Simply put, they have to be paid for.
  So, within the context of the Budget Resolution and the 602(b) 
allocations which flow from it, the Pentagon must pay for these ongoing 
operations in Iraq, Bosnia, and Guantanamo. They can plan to pay for it 
now, in an orderly fashion in this bill. Or it will be paid for later, 
by reprogramming or rescinding DOD funds.
  Senator Bingaman and I are proposing that it makes better fiscal and 
military sense to plan to pay for it now.
  Delaying a decision will be, as it has been in the past, confusing, 
painful and costly.
  Identifying lower priority programs to eliminate in the middle of the 
year as an alternative to deficit spending has been contentious, time 
consuming, and problematic.
  The result is that the Congress and the administration have wrung 
their hands and quibbled over which ``low priority'' programs can be 
sacrificed at that time to pay these bills. The Department of Defense 
has been forced, at times, to dip into precious readiness accounts. As 
a result, the readiness of our troops has been compromised.
  We can and should do better.
  This year, the Defense Department is asking the Congress to do 
better. It is asking us to provide funding to cover the costs of these 
ongoing operations as part of the fiscal year 1996 Department of 
Defense Authorization bill and the fiscal year 1996 DOD Appropriations 
bill.
  Rather than deferring a decision about how to pay bills we already 
know will come due later in the year, the Pentagon is asking us to be 
fiscally responsible and include them in the fiscal year 1996 budget 
now. We should do that. And this amendment will do it.
  It is true, Mr. President, that the Administration did not request 
this funding in its official budget request for fiscal year 1996. 
However, before the Senate Armed Services Committee considered the 
Authorization bill for fiscal year 1996 and before the Senate 
Appropriations Subcommittee acted, Secretary Perry wrote a letter to 
the Chairman asking the Committee to provide funding for these 
operations if the defense budget was increased above the President's 
request.
  Secretary Perry's letter is clear. Regarding ongoing operations in 
Bosnia, Iraq, and on Guantanamo, it says ``I suggest that you fund 
these contingencies first if you decide to increase the DOD budget this 
year.''
  In a subsequent letter, Secretary Perry said ``the importance of 
avoiding any negative effect on readiness of U.S. forces argues for 
funding them earlier than can be accomplished if we wait for 
supplemental funding next year.'' I ask unanimous consent that copies 
of Secretary Perry's letters be included in the Record.
  To its credit, Mr. President, the Senate Armed Services Committee did 
authorize $125 million for these ongoing operations as part of the $7 
billion it added to the President's budget for defense. But that won't 
do the trick. The Pentagon estimates that it will need $1.2 billion to 
cover the cost of ongoing operations in fiscal year 1996. The 
appropriations bill provides nothing for the ongoing operations, 
although it increases defense spending by $6.4 billion above the 
President's budget request.
  We will still have more than a billion dollars worth of bills to pay 
later--bills which will need to be paid then, as we suggest they should 
be paid now, by finding other defense offsets.
  Mr. President, I urge my colleagues to support this amendment in the 
name of fiscal responsibility. We know now that we have more than a 
billion dollars worth of bills to pay this year for ongoing operations 
and we should include those funds in the fiscal year 1996 budget.
  In addition to being fiscally irresponsible, deferring a decision 
about how to pay these bills until later in the year runs the risk of 
putting the readiness of our troops in danger. Our service men and 
women, as well as the American people, expect and deserve better. 

[[Page S 12213]]

  For their sake, we should fix our priorities now--as this amendment 
attempts to do--and include funding for contingency operations in the 
fiscal year 1996 budget now.


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