[Congressional Record Volume 168, Number 158 (Thursday, September 29, 2022)]
[Senate]
[Page S5671]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
SA 6127. Mr. COTTON submitted an amendment intended to be proposed to
amendment SA 5499 submitted by Mr. Reed (for himself and Mr. Inhofe)
and intended to be proposed to the bill H.R. 7900, to authorize
appropriations for fiscal year 2023 for military activities of the
Department of Defense, for military construction, and for defense
activities of the Department of Energy, to prescribe military personnel
strengths for such fiscal year, and for other purposes; which was
ordered to lie on the table; as follows:
At the appropriate place, insert the following:
SEC. _____. EQUAL ENFORCEMENT OF EXPENDING ONLY AUTHORIZED
APPROPRIATIONS UNDER CONTINUING RESOLUTIONS.
(a) Findings.--Congress finds the following:
(1) The national security of the United States suffers
greatly from continuing appropriation Acts due to the
inability of the Department of Defense to execute new starts
or production increases under the standardized language of
continuing resolutions.
(2) No other executive branch agency receives similar
treatment under the standardized language of continuing
resolutions.
(3) The theory that the prohibitions under a continuing
resolution on new starts and production increases at the
Department of Defense increase pressure for negotiations has
not been supported by the significant and growing length of
the period during which funding is provided under a
continuing resolution for a fiscal year over the past 15
years.
(4) Experimentation with alternative methods of increasing
pressure for negotiations could result in more efficient and
effective outcomes for national security and the taxpayers of
the United States.
(b) Equal Enforcement.--No amounts made available under an
appropriation Act providing continuing funding for a fiscal
year shall be made available to any department, agency,
corporation, or other organization unit of the Federal
Government for production of items, procurement of materials,
construction of facilities, research and development,
execution of contracts, or any other use of funds not
specifically provided for in the annual appropriation Act for
the preceding fiscal year.
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