This Statement of Administration Policy provides the
Administration's views on the Military Construction Appropriations Bill,
FY 2001, as reported by the House Appropriations Committee. Your
consideration of the Administration's views would be appreciated.
Overall Funding Level and Unrequested Projects
The Administration commends the Committee for reporting a bill that
funds almost all of the construction projects requested in the
President's FY 2001 Budget. Especially noteworthy is the full funding of
the requests for Chemical Demilitarization and Base Realignment and
Closure. However, the Administration is concerned that the overall
funding level of the Committee bill would drain critical resources from
other programs. The Administration believes that the President's budget
request correctly addresses our most important FY 2001 military
construction and housing needs and that additional funding is not
required.
The Administration questions the Committee's increase of $600 million
to the funding level requested in the President's budget. Within this
overall net increase, the Committee has funded 130 projects costing
about $836 million that were not requested in the President's budget. A
majority of these projects, 75 costing about $403 million, are not
funded in DoD's Future Years Defense Program (FYDP). The Department of
Defense has a rigorous process for selecting projects to be included in
the FYDP and the budget. This process takes into account safety, health,
environmental, and military utility issues to determine the highest
priority projects. Substituting projects not in the FYDP for those
included in the FYDP undermines the careful prioritization approved by
the military services. The Administration urges the Committee to delete
funding added for unrequested projects, especially those not in the
FYDP.
Ballistic Missile Defense Organization Construction Program
The Committee has reduced the construction request for the Ballistic
Missile Defense Organization (BMDO) by $20 million. The Administration
urges the Committee to fully fund the President's request for this
program, $103.5 million. These funds are essential to preserving the
President's options for deploying a national missile defense system. If
any of these funds are not used for deployment, we will work with
Congress using established procedures to ensure that these funds are
used for other high priority Department of Defense construction
projects. The Department of Defense is providing the Military
Construction Appropriations Subcommittee additional justification
materials for the BMDO construction request.
NATO Security Investment Program
The Committee bill reduces the request for the NATO Security
Investment Program (NSIP) by $12.5 million. The Administration urges the
Committee to provide the $190 million requested in the President's
budget to support critical NATO operations fully. Moreover, the
Administration objects to section 124 of the Committee bill, which would
prohibit the use of NSIP funds or other funds provided in the bill for
use in Partnership for Peace programs in the New Independent States of
the former Soviet Union. While we believe this provision would have no
practical effect in the short term, if this provision became a permanent
fixture in future Military Construction Appropriations Acts, it could
adversely affect future U.S. foreign policy initiatives as well as
future NATO-led operations. The Administration urges the Committee to
delete this restriction from the bill.
Energy Conservation Investment Program
The Committee has reduced the Energy Conservation Investment Program
(ECIP) request in its entirety ($33.6 million), citing large unobligated
balances in this program. This program has proven its worth by financing
capital improvements that yield significant energy savings to the
Department and help in the elimination of inefficient and
high-maintenance energy systems. Moreover, actual ECIP unobligated
balances are much lower than those portrayed by the Subcommittee and are
likely to be exhausted by the end of the fiscal year. This is due to the
Congress' elimination of the FY 2000 ECIP budget request and proactive
efforts by DoD to reduce unobligated balances by aggressively pursuing
the execution of ECIP projects. Thus, the proposed reduction would
effectively result in a pause of the ECIP program. The Administration
urges that funding be restored to this program to ensure its continuity
and benefit to DoD.
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