[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 85 (Thursday, June 25, 1998)]
[Senate]
[Pages S7216-S7218]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




             MILITARY CONSTRUCTION APPROPRIATIONS ACT, 1999

  Mr. BURNS. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate now 
turn to calendar No. 422, H.R. 4059, that all after the enacting clause 
be stricken, and the text of S. 2160 be inserted in lieu thereof, and 
the bill be amended by two conforming amendments at the desk.


                     Amendments Nos. 3045 and 3046

  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will report the amendments.
  The legislative clerk read as follows:

       The Senator from Montana [Mr. Burns] proposes amendments 
     numbered 3045 and 3046, en bloc.

  The amendments (Nos. 3045 and 3046) are as follows:


                           amendment no. 3045

(Purpose: To adjust appropriations for Navy military construction, Air 
     Force family housing construction, and Defense-Wide military 
 construction to accommodate the authorizations of appropriations for 
                such construction for fiscal year 1999)

       At the appropriate place insert the following:
       Sec.     . (a) Notwithstanding any other provision of this 
     Act, the amount appropriated by the heading ``Military 
     Construction, Navy'' is hereby increased by $5,780,000.
       (b) Notwithstanding any other provision of this Act, the 
     amount appropriated by the heading ``Military Construction, 
     Defense-Wide'' is hereby decreased by $11,000,000.
       (c) Notwithstanding any other provision of this Act--
       (1) the amount appropriated by the heading ``Family 
     Housing, Air Force'' is hereby increased by $5,220,000; and

[[Page S7217]]

       (2) the amount appropriated by that heading for 
     Construction is hereby increased by $5,220,000.

                           amendment no. 3046

  (Purpose: To increase by $12,716,000 the appropriation for military 
     construction for the Army National Guard and to decrease the 
    appropriation for military construction for the Army Reserve by 
                              $12,716,000)

       At the appropriate place insert the following:
       Sec. (a) Notwithstanding any other provision of this Act, 
     the amount appropriated by this Act under the heading 
     ``Military Construction, Army National Guard'' is hereby 
     increased by $12,716,000.
       (b) Notwithstanding any other provision of this Act, the 
     amount appropriated by this Act under the heading ``Military 
     Construction, Army Reserve'' is hereby decreased by 
     $12,716,000.

  Mr. DOMENICI. Mr. President, the pending military construction 
appropriations bill provides $8.5 billion in new budget authority and 
$2.6 billion in new outlays for Military Construction and Family 
Housing programs for the Department of Defense for fiscal year 1999.
  When outlays from prior-year budget authority and other completed 
actions are taken into account, the outlays for the 1999 program total 
$9.1 billion.
  Compared to 1998 appropriations, this bill is $417 million lower in 
budget authority, and it is $477 million lower in outlays.
  This legislation provides for construction by the Department of 
Defense for U.S. military facilities throughout the world, and it 
provides for family housing for the active forces of each of the U.S. 
military services. Accordingly, it provides for important readiness and 
quality of life programs for our service men and women.
  The bill is within the revised section 302(b) allocation for the 
Military Construction Subcommittee. I commend the distinguished 
subcommittee Chairman, the Senator from Montana, for bringing this bill 
to the floor within the subcommittee's allocation.
  Because Congress has not yet passed the final 1999 congressional 
budget resolution, prior year outlays for this bill have not yet been 
revised to reflect Congress' override of President Clinton's Line Item 
Veto of 37 FY 1998 military construction projects. When this adjustment 
is made, outlays prior to 1999 will be revised upward by $112 million. 
It is my understanding that this necessary adjustment will be made when 
CBO revises its baseline for this legislation, which should be before 
this bill is reported back to the Senate from Conference with the 
House.
  The bill provides important increases over the President's request 
for 1999, and I urge the adoption of the bill.
  Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that a table showing the 
relationship of the bill to the subcommittee's section 302(b) 
allocation be printed in the Record.
  There being no objection, the table was ordered to be printed in the 
Record, as follows:

         S. 2160, MILITARY CONSTRUCTION APPROPRIATIONS, 1999--SPENDING COMPARISONS, SENATE-REPORTED BILL        
                                     [Fiscal year 1999, dollars in millions]                                    
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
            Category                  Defense       Nondefense         Crime         Mandatory         Total    
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Senate-reported bill:                                                                                           
    Budget authority............           8,481  ..............  ..............  ..............           8,481
    Outlays.....................           9,120  ..............  ..............  ..............           9,120
Senate 302(b) allocation:                                                                                       
    Budget authority............           8,484  ..............  ..............  ..............           8,484
    Outlays.....................           9,120  ..............  ..............  ..............           9,120
President's request:                                                                                            
    Budget authority............           7,784  ..............  ..............  ..............           7,784
    Outlays.....................           9,059  ..............  ..............  ..............           9,059
House-passed bill:                                                                                              
    Budget authority............  ..............  ..............  ..............  ..............  ..............
    Outlays.....................  ..............  ..............  ..............  ..............  ..............
                                                                                                                
  SENATE-REPORTED BILL COMPARED                                                                                 
               TO:                                                                                              
Senate 302(b) allocation:                                                                                       
    Budget authority............              -3  ..............  ..............  ..............              -3
    Outlays.....................  ..............  ..............  ..............  ..............  ..............
President's request                                                                                             
    Budget authority............             697  ..............  ..............  ..............             697
    Outlays.....................              61  ..............  ..............  ..............              61
House-passed bill:                                                                                              
    Budget authority............           8,841  ..............  ..............  ..............           8,481
    Outlays.....................           9,120  ..............  ..............  ..............           9,120
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Note. Details may not add to totals due to rounding. Totals adjusted for consistency with current scorekeeping  
  conventions.                                                                                                  

  Mr. BURNS. Mr. President, I am pleased to bring before the Senate the 
military construction appropriation bill and report for fiscal year 
1999.
  This bill reflects the bipartisan approach that the ranking Member, 
Senator Murray of Washington, and I have tried to maintain regarding 
military construction and this subcommittee. It has been a pleasure to 
work with Senator Murray, her staff and the members of the subcommittee 
throughout this process. I very much appreciate all of their support.
  Mr. President, this bill was reported out of the full Appropriations 
Committee on June 11, by a unanimous vote of 27 to 0. The bill 
recommended by the full Committee on Appropriations is for 
$8,480,574,000. This is $696.5 million over the budget request.
  However, this bill provides $702 million less than what was 
appropriated last year--a reduction of 8.2 percent overall spending 
authority for the committee from the amount appropriated in fiscal year 
1998.
  Further, more importantly, the bill reflects a reduction of 23 
percent since fiscal year 1997--almost $2 billion less from just two 
years ago.
  We have sought to recommend a balanced bill to the Senate, and we 
believe it addresses key, military construction requirements for 
readiness, family housing, barracks, quality of life and the Guard & 
Reserve components.
  This bill honors the commitment we have to our Armed Forces. It helps 
ensure that the housing and infrastructure needs of the military are 
given proper recognition.
  Also, I am pleased to report to the Senate that the bill is within 
the committee's 302(b) budget allocation for both budget authority and 
outlays.
  Mr. President, this bill has some points I want to mention. We added 
$98 million above the budget request to provide better and more modern 
family housing for our service personnel and their families.
  On another quality of life measure, we have added substantially to 
the budget request for medical and hospital facilities. We have 
provided $708 million for some 46 barracks construction projects to 
provide single service members a more favorable living environment.
  The committee also fully funds the budget request of $97 million for 
funding 15 class I violation environmental projects.
  We also addressed the shortfalls that continue to plague our Reserve 
components. The Department continues to walk away from the total force 
concept. Recognizing this, we have again lent support by adding $267 
million to the Guard and Reserve accounts. In each case, the funds will 
help satisfy essential mission, quality of life or readiness 
requirements.
  22 percent of the bill, or $1.731 billion, is for downsizing defense 
infrastructure, or better known as the Base Closure and Realignment 
Program. This includes funding for the last two rounds of BRAC.
  Almost a quarter of all military construction dollars goes toward the 
base closure and realignment process.
  All of the projects that we have recommended are included in the 
Senate-passed version of the defense authorization bill. We will work 
very closely with the Armed Services Committee,

[[Page S7218]]

as we put together a conference package for military construction.
  We have tried to accommodate the sizeable administration request for 
overseas projects in such places as Korea, Germany and the Middle East. 
18 percent of the administration's budget request for military 
construction projects is for overseas areas. We have funded only the 
essential of those projects.
  There are many other issues that I could speak about at this time. I 
urge the Members of the Senate to support this bill and move it forward 
expeditiously.
  I would like to yield to my ranking member, Senator Murray.
  Mrs. MURRAY. Mr. President, it is my pleasure to join Chairman Burns 
in recommending for the Senate's consideration the FY 1999 military 
construction appropriations bill. Through a bipartisan effort, we have 
created what I think is a very fair and just bill that should please 
both DoD and my colleagues here in the Senate.
  As he does every year, Chairman Burns had to weigh the priorities of 
the Department of Defense, the requests of his colleagues, and the 
recommendations of the Armed Services Committee. He had to do this with 
an unacceptably low budget request of $7.784 billion, which was $1.4 
billion less than the $9.18 billion we appropriated last year. Thanks 
to Chairman Sevens, that budget request was raised to an $8.48 billion 
allocation--which we have completely allocated in an equitable and 
bipartisan way.
  You will find that the budget request yet again tremendously short 
ended the Guard and Reserve--asking for only $179 million compared to 
the $390 million we appropriated last year. Thanks to some creative 
maneuvering and forward thinking, we were able to fund the Guard and 
Reserve this year at $446 million without disadvantaging any other 
portion of our bill.
  As Chairman Burns noted, the active components were given $2.57 
billion for military construction. In an attempt to fund even more 
projects, Chairman Burns and I have also created a $200 million package 
of quality of life projects that has been added to the authorization 
bill. These adds are included in our bill, and the criteria used in 
choosing them was that the programs had to be quality of life, had to 
be in the future year defense plan, and had to represent a broad number 
of States and services. These are inherently valuable projects, and 
include improvements to family housing, child development centers, 
dining facilities, barracks renewal, and physical fitness centers. I 
encourage all members to support this important initiative to provide a 
better quality of life to our service men and women.
  Mr. President, this is a good bill--and it's a bill that all of the 
Senators here should be pleased to support. Again I'd like to thank 
Chairman Burns for his fair, honest, and excellent work at drafting a 
bi-partisan and equitable bill. I'd also like to thank and commend his 
appropriations staff, Sid Ashworth, as well as minority staff in past. 
Emily East and Dick Diamond for commitment to producing this first-rate 
bill. I hope my colleagues can join Chairman Burns and me in supporting 
this bill and voting to adopt it today.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, the amendments are agreed 
to.
  The amendments (Nos. 3045 and 3046) were agreed to.
  Mr. BURNS. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that H.R. 4059, as 
amended, be considered read the third time, and passed, and the motion 
to reconsider be laid on the table, all without further action or 
debate.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  The bill (H.R. 4059), as amended, was considered read the third time, 
and passed as follows:
  (The text of the bill (H.R. 4059) will be printed in a future edition 
of the Record.)
  Mr. BURNS. Mr. President, I move that the Senate insist on its 
amendment, request a conference with the House, and the Chair be 
authorized to appoint conferees on the part of the Senate, all without 
further action or debate.
  The motion was agreed to and the Chair appointed Mr. Burns, Mrs. 
Hutchison, Mr. Faircloth, Mr. Craig, Mr. Stevens, Mrs. Murray, Mr. 
Reid, Mr. Inouye, and Mr. Byrd, conferees on the part of the Senate.

                          ____________________