[Congressional Record Volume 158, Number 72 (Friday, May 18, 2012)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E857-E858]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




        NATIONAL DEFENSE AUTHORIZATION ACT FOR FISCAL YEAR 2013

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                               speech of

                           HON. MICK MULVANEY

                           of south carolina

                    in the house of representatives

                         Thursday, May 17, 2012

       The House in Committee of the Whole House on the state of 
     the Union had under consideration the bill (H.R. 4310) to 
     authorize appropriations for fiscal year 2013 for military 
     activities of the Department of Defense, to prescribe 
     military personnel strengths for fiscal year 2013, and for 
     other purposes:

  Mr. MULVANEY. Mr. Chair, I rise today to bring to your attention a 
non-partisan, good governance issue--accountability and transparency. 
Specifically, accountability and transparency for the War Budget, which 
for accounting purposes is treated separately from the Department of 
Defense (DoD) Base Budget.
  The Government Accountability Office, GAO, the Congressional Budget 
Office, CBO, and the Congressional Research Service, CRS, have all 
testified before Congress about the limited transparency in DoD war 
cost estimating and reporting) Despite this challenge, members from 
both political parties have worked in a bipartisan manner to support 
our 43rd and 44th Commanders in Chief to ensure that our troops have 
the war-related resources they need to win the Global War on Terror. As 
we move forward, it is my hope that we will preserve this spirit of 
bipartisanship while also working to overcome the challenge of 
providing good faith estimates about what our war effort actually 
costs.
  Last year's Budget and Control Act, BCA (P.L. 112 25) appropriately 
recognized the distinction made by previous Congresses between the Base 
Budget and the War Budget. It places specific limits, or caps, on the 
Base Budget; the War Budget, however, has no limit. This creates a 
potential loophole for the President and/or Congress to evade the BCA 
limits by moving money for regular activities from the Base Budget to 
the War Budget's unlimited resources.
  This is the first full cycle of Budget requests, authorizations, and 
appropriations under the BCA. Despite the varied views on the law, the 
President and the Congress have a duty to abide by its letter and 
spirit unless an alternative law is agreed upon. This bill is not about 
finding an alternative replacement for the BCA; it's about making sure 
the men and women in harm's way have the appropriate legal authority 
and resources to effectively fight on our behalf. It should also be 
about providing for our troops in an accountable and transparent 
manner.
  The FY2013 Budget Request calls for shifting $6.1 billion in basic 
compensation for military personnel from the Base Budget to the War 
Budget. The troops associated with these

[[Page E858]]

costs are currently not deployed in overseas combat operations. Rather, 
they are part of the troop reductions set to begin next year. This 
means the FY2013 War Request and this bill's War Budget are overstated 
by $6.1 billion with basic compensation costs that have traditionally 
been funded through the Base Budget. As the GAO has stated, ``Costs 
that are incurred regardless of whether there is a [war] operation, 
such as the base pay of active duty military personnel, are not 
considered [war-related] (emphasis added).'' This new use of the War 
Budget for base pay was highlighted earlier this year at a House Budget 
Committee oversight hearing entitled The Department of Defense and 
Fiscal Year 2013 Budget. It is a clear circumvention of the BCA limits.
  As we move forward in the Budget process, we should aim to ensure our 
troops receive full, base salaries and benefits from their usual 
source--the Base Budget. After all, the primary reason we employ troops 
is to protect our nation, and we need to continue to use the Base 
Budget to compensate our troops. This bill undermines public reporting 
of accurate War costs by accepting the President's request to shift 
$6.1 billion in base salaries from the Base Budget to the War Budget. 
However, neither the President's request nor this bill actually funds 
the DoD. So, in the days ahead I urge us to work towards preserving the 
integrity of the law by restoring accountability and transparency 
between the Base Budget and the War Budget.
  If we fail to bring to light any potential exploitation of BCA 
loopholes in the law's early years of enforcement, then we simply make 
tomorrow's challenges greater while willfully turning a blind eye to 
the oversight record provided by the GAO, CRS, CBO and other credible 
sources.
  H.R. 4310 was reported out of the Armed Service Committee and passed 
the House on a bipartisan vote of 56 5 and 299 120, respectively. I 
applaud the Armed Services Committee for including report language that 
states, ``[Section 403] would require that the [FY2014 2017] Department 
of Defense budget request include amounts for the end strength of the 
regular component of the Army and the Marine Corps in the base budget 
and not through emergency, supplemental, or overseas contingency 
operation funds.'' I hope the bipartisan majority supporting the bill 
will have the opportunity this year to accelerate its call to fully 
compensate our troops in an accountable and transparent manner.

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