US House members this week will debate and vote on 100 amendments to a
Pentagon spending bill that include giving weapon programs more cash,
sending diplomatic signals, defunding a GOP-proposed missile shield and
spending less in Afghanistan.
After a week of delays as members and House leaders debated over the
shape of the rules for floor action on the 2014 defense appropriations
bill, the chamber’s Rules Committee on Monday night cleared the
legislation to hit the floor on Tuesday.
The Rules Committee has approved exactly 100 amendments, including
controversial ones that focus on the NSA’s email surveillance programs,
as well as US aid to Afghanistan, Pakistan and Egypt.
The amendments that will be debated this week also propose additional
funding for several Pentagon weapon programs, most proposing to shift
the additional funds from other items within the DoD budget.
GOP House leadership schedules indicate work on the Pentagon spending
bill will begin Tuesday afternoon and likely wrap up on Thursday.
Two amendments would place restrictions on the NSA’s ability to
monitor the email traffic of people inside the United States. In the
wake of the NSA scandal set off by a former Booz Allen Hamilton
contractor who disclosed several such programs to the press, debate on
these measures should provide the week’s most explosive moments.
One being pushed by Rep. Richard Nugent, R-Fla., proposes that none
of the funds appropriated in the final 2014 defense spending bill could
be “used by the NSA to target a US person or acquire and store the
content of a US person’s communications, including phone calls and
emails,” according to a summary of the amendments released Monday
evening by the office of House Majority Leader Rep. Eric Cantor, R-Va.
Another proposes to end what it calls the “authority for the blanket
collection of records under the Patriot Act,” as well as proposing to
bar the NSA and other agencies from “using Section 215 of the Patriot
Act to collect records, including telephone call records, that pertain
to persons who are not subject to an investigation under Section 215.”
It is being pushed by conservative GOP Rep. Justin Amash of Michigan,
liberal Democratic Rep. John Conyers of Michigan and other members.
Senate Intelligence Committee Chairwoman Sen. Dianne Feinstein,
D-Calif., and Ranking Member Sen. Saxby Chambliss, R-Ga., are lobbying
against the NSA amendment.
“The FISA business records program has contributed to disrupting
numerous terrorist attacks against our nation. It has been reviewed and
authorized by all three branches of government and is subject to strict
controls,” the two said in a joint statement. “Since the public
disclosure of the business records program, the Senate Select Committee
on Intelligence has explored how the program can be modified to add
extra privacy protections without sacrificing its effectiveness.
“We believe this debate in the Congressional Intelligence and
Judiciary committees should continue and that any amendments to defund
the program on appropriations bills would be unwise,” Feinstein and
Chambliss said.
With tensions still high in Egypt and the future of its government —
and its longtime relationship with Washington — very much in doubt,
another Amash amendment targets US aid dollars to Cairo.
This amendment proposes that no funds from the 2014 defense
appropriations bill be used to pay for “military or paramilitary
operations in Egypt,” according to Cantor’s summary. Rep. Ted Yoho,
R-Fla., also is listed as a sponsor of that amendment.
Afghanistan also is very much on members’ minds, specifically, using
funds the Pentagon wants to spend on its still-young military for other
things. For instance, Rep. Lee Terry, R-Texas, will offer a plan to
shrink the “Afghanistan Security Forces Fund” by over $2.5 billion; he
wants to use those funds instead to “give DoD more flexibility to offset
civilian furloughs.”
Obama administration officials and military brass, however, have long
said building up a strong Afghan military and police force is the best
chance of preventing the Taliban and al-Qaida from returning to
Afghanistan after US and Western forces leave next year.
Another amendment, offered by GOP Rep. Steve Cohen of Tennessee,
proposes to take over $130 million requested by the administration for
the “Afghanistan Infrastructure Fund” and apply the alleged savings to
help pare the US federal deficit.
Reflecting Washington’s continued rocky relationship with Pakistan,
Rep. Ted Poe, R-Texas, is proposing a measure that would slash US aid to
Islamabad by $600 million.
House members also are jockeying to provide cash infusions to some of
their favorite weapon programs, an annual ritual in both chambers.
Meantime, some members want to take funds away from big-ticket weapon
programs and use those monies to help pay down the federal debt.
Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, D-Hawaii, wants her colleagues to approve a
measure that would increase funds for the Navy’s Offensive Anti-Surface
Warfare weapon and Air-Launched Long Range Anti-Ship Missile program by
$104 million. Her amendment would fund the programs by decreasing
operations and maintenance (O&M) accounts by the same amount.
Another amendment would take $22 million slated for O&M and
instead direct it to Navy coffers for “advanced submarine systems
development.”
House Armed Services intelligence, emerging threats and capabilities
subcommittee Ranking Member Rep. James Langevin, D-R.I., is pushing an
amendment that would take $5 million from O&M accounts and use it
instead “for the purpose of restoring the funding for cyber security
advanced research to the amount requested in the president’s [2014]
budget [request].”
Pentagon officials for months, however, have argued that additional
O&M cuts will further hinder training and platform maintenance, some
of which have been delayed or canceled because of sequestration.
Not every member wants to plus-up a pet project, however. Several
Democrats are looking to use the defense bill to further pare the
massive federal deficit.
Democratic Reps. Jerrold Nadler of New York and James Garamendi of
Californian are coming after a GOP-proposed East Coast missile shield.
The duo’s amendment targets the Republican-controlled House
Appropriations Committee’s plan to devote $70 million to the proposed
project in 2014; instead, the lawmakers will propose using those dollars
for deficit reduction.
Rep. Jared Polis, D-Colo., will pitch a plan to remove $107 million
slated for 14 new ground-based interceptor missiles and use the dollars
instead to pare the deficit.
Conyers and Rep. Earl Blumenauer, D-Ore., will offer an amendment to
slash the Navy’s request for the Ohio-class submarine program by 10
percent and devote the funds to helping the Pentagon better deal with
sequestration.
And several Democratic-pushed amendments propose reducing various
Pentagon accounts by $1 million to $2 million, using the funds instead
to shrink the deficit.
And Rep. Alan Grayson, D-Fla., is offering a plan in lockstep with
Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel’s intention to shrink by 20 percent all
Pentagon and combatant command staffs. Grayson’s amendment would
prohibit any use of funds allocated for 2014 to be spent to foster a
“net increase of additional flag or general officers above current
levels.
