[Senate Report 112-168]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
Calendar No. 408
112th Congress Report
SENATE
2d Session 112-168
======================================================================
MILITARY CONSTRUCTION AND VETERANS AFFAIRS, AND RELATED AGENCIES
APPROPRIATION BILL, 2013
_______
May 22, 2012.--Ordered to be printed
_______
Mr. Johnson, from the Committee on Appropriations,
submitted the following
REPORT
[To accompany S. 3215]
The Committee on Appropriations reports the bill (S. 3215)
making appropriations for military construction, the Department
of Veterans Affairs, and related agencies for the fiscal year
ending September 30, 2013, and for other purposes, reports
favorably thereon and recommends that the bill do pass.
Amounts in new budget authority
Total of bill as reported to the Senate.................$148,533,927,000
Amount of 2012 appropriations........................... 137,441,934,000
Amount of 2013 budget estimate.......................... 148,999,829,000
Bill as recommended to Senate compared to--
Amount of 2012 appropriations....................... +11,091,993,000
Amount of 2013 budget estimate...................... -465,902,000
CONTENTS
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Page
Background:
Purpose of the Bill.......................................... 4
Committee Recommendation..................................... 4
Overview and Summary of Bill................................. 4
Title I:
Military Construction:
Items of Special Interest:
Hearings............................................. 6
Summary of Committee Recommendations................. 6
Reprogramming Guidelines............................. 6
Real Property Maintenance............................ 6
Incremental Funding.................................. 7
Future Years Defense Program......................... 7
Energy Policy........................................ 8
Global Challenges.................................... 10
Military Construction, Army.............................. 14
Military Construction, Navy and Marine Corps............. 17
Military Construction, Air Force......................... 17
Military Construction, Defense-Wide...................... 19
Military Construction, Reserve Components................ 20
North Atlantic Treaty Organization....................... 21
Family Housing Overview.................................. 22
Family Housing Construction, Army........................ 22
Family Housing Operation and Maintenance, Army........... 23
Family Housing Construction, Navy and Marine Corps....... 23
Family Housing Operation and Maintenance, Navy and Marine
Corps.................................................. 24
Family Housing Construction, Air Force................... 24
Family Housing Operation and Maintenance, Air Force...... 25
Family Housing Operation and Maintenance, Defense-Wide... 26
Family Housing Improvement Fund.......................... 26
Homeowners Assistance Fund............................... 26
Chemical Demilitarization Construction, Defense-Wide..... 27
Base Closure Account 1990................................ 28
Base Closure Account 2005................................ 28
Administrative Provisions................................ 29
Title II:
Department of Veterans Affairs:
Items of Special Interest:
Hearings............................................. 31
Summary of Committee Recommendations................. 31
Department Overview.................................. 31
Veterans Benefits Administration......................... 33
Compensation and Pensions............................ 34
Readjustment Benefits................................ 35
Veterans Insurance and Indemnities................... 36
Veterans Housing Benefit Program Fund................ 37
Vocational Rehabilitation Loans Program Account...... 37
Native American Veteran Housing Loan Program Account. 38
Veterans Health Administration........................... 38
Medical Services..................................... 41
Medical Support and Compliance....................... 47
Medical Facilities................................... 48
Medical and Prosthetic Research...................... 49
Medical Care Cost Recovery Collections............... 50
Medical Care Collection Fund--Revenues Applied....... 50
National Cemetery Administration......................... 51
Departmental Administration.............................. 52
General Administration............................... 52
General Operating Expenses, Veterans Benefits
Administration..................................... 54
Information Technology Systems....................... 56
Office of Inspector General.......................... 58
Construction, Major Projects......................... 59
Construction, Minor Projects......................... 60
Grants for Construction of State Extended Care
Facilities......................................... 60
Grants for Construction of Veterans Cemeteries....... 61
Administrative Provisions............................ 61
Title III:
Related Agencies:
American Battle Monuments Commission:
Salaries and Expenses................................ 64
Foreign Currency Fluctuations........................ 64
U.S. Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims: Salaries and
Expenses............................................... 65
Department of Defense--Civil: Cemeterial Expenses, Army:
Salaries and Expenses................................ 65
Construction......................................... 66
Armed Forces Retirement Home............................. 66
Title IV: General Provisions..................................... 67
Compliance With Paragraph 7, Rule XVI, of the Standing Rules of
the
Senate......................................................... 68
Compliance With Paragraph 7(c), Rule XXVI of the Standing Rules
of the Senate.................................................. 69
Compliance With Paragraph 12, Rule XXVI of the Standing Rules of
the Senate..................................................... 70
Budgetary Impact of Bill......................................... 73
Military Construction Project Listing by Location................ 74
Comparative Statement of Budget Authority........................ 91
BACKGROUND
Purpose of the Bill
The Military Construction and Veterans Affairs, and Related
Agencies appropriations bill provides necessary funding for the
planning, design, construction, alteration, and improvement of
military facilities worldwide, for both active and reserve
forces. It also finances the cost of military family housing
and the U.S. share of the NATO Security Investment Program. In
addition, the bill provides funding to implement base closures
and realignments authorized by law. The bill provides resources
to the Department of Veterans Affairs for veterans benefits and
healthcare and funding for U.S. cemeteries and battlefield
monuments both in the United States and abroad, including
Arlington National Cemetery; the U.S. Court of Appeals for
Veterans Claims; and the Armed Forces Retirement Homes.
Committee Recommendation
The Committee recommends appropriations totaling
$148,533,927,000 for fiscal year 2013 military construction,
family housing, base closure, veterans healthcare and benefits,
including fiscal year 2014 advance appropriations for veterans
medical care, and related agencies. This includes
$74,638,167,000 in mandatory funding and $73,895,760,000 in
discretionary funding. The table at the end of the report
displays the Committee recommendation in comparison with the
current fiscal year, and the President's fiscal year 2013
request.
APPROPRIATIONS FOR FISCAL YEAR 2013
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Senate
Budget request recommendation
------------------------------------------------------------------------
New budget authority........ $148,999,829,000 $148,533,927,000
Previous advances provided 52,541,000,000 52,541,000,000
for fiscal year 2013.......
Less advances provided for -54,462,000,000 -54,462,000,000
fiscal year 2014...........
-------------------------------------------
Total appropriations 147,078,829,000 146,612,927,000
for fiscal year 2013.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Overview and Summary of Bill
The Military Construction and Veterans Affairs, and Related
Agencies appropriations bill funds an array of programs that
are vital to America's military personnel and their families,
and to the Nations' veterans. For U.S. military forces and
their families worldwide, the bill funds critical
infrastructure, ranging from mission essential operational and
training facilities to key quality of life facilities,
including barracks, family housing, child care centers, schools
and hospitals. For America's 22,200,000 veterans, the bill
provides the necessary funding for veterans benefits and
healthcare, from prescription drugs and clinical services to
the construction of hospitals and other medical facilities
throughout the Nation. The bill also funds veterans cemeteries
in the United States and provides funding for four independent
agencies--the American Battle Monuments Commission, the U.S.
Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims, the Armed Forces
Retirement Homes, and Arlington National Cemetery.
TITLE I
MILITARY CONSTRUCTION
Items of Special Interest
HEARINGS
The Subcommittee on Military Construction and Veterans
Affairs, and Related Agencies held two hearings related to the
fiscal year 2013 military construction budget request.
Witnesses included representatives of the Office of Secretary
of Defense and of the active and reserve components of the
Army, Navy, and Air Force.
SUMMARY OF COMMITTEE RECOMMENDATIONS
The fiscal year 2013 budget request for military
construction and family housing totals $11,222,710,000. The
Committee recommends $10,653,808,000, $568,902,000 below the
budget request for military construction and family housing.
REPROGRAMMING GUIDELINES
The following reprogramming guidelines apply for all
military construction and family housing projects. A project or
account (including the sub-elements of an account) which has
been specifically reduced by the Congress in acting on the
budget request is considered to be a congressional interest
item and as such, prior approval is required. Accordingly, no
reprogrammings to an item specifically reduced below the
threshold by the Congress are permitted.
The reprogramming criteria that apply to military
construction projects (25 percent of the funded amount or
$2,000,000, whichever is less) continue to apply to new housing
construction projects and to improvements over $2,000,000. To
provide the services the flexibility to proceed with
construction contracts without disruption or delay, the costs
associated with environmental hazard remediation such as
asbestos removal, radon abatement, lead-based paint removal or
abatement, and any other legislated environmental hazard
remediation may be excluded, provided that such remediation
requirements could not be reasonably anticipated at the time of
the budget submission. This exclusion applies to projects
authorized in this budget year, as well as projects authorized
in prior years for which construction has not been completed.
Furthermore, in instances where prior approval to a
reprogramming request for a project or account has been
received from the Committee, the adjusted amount approved
becomes the new base for any future increase or decrease via
below-threshold reprogrammings (provided that the project or
account is not a congressional interest item as defined above).
In addition to these guidelines, the services are directed
to adhere to the guidance for military construction
reprogrammings and notifications, including the pertinent
statutory authorities contained in Department of Defense [DOD]
Financial Management Regulation 7000.14-R and relevant updates
and policy memoranda.
REAL PROPERTY MAINTENANCE
The Committee recommends a continuation of the following
general rules for repairing a facility under ``Operation and
Maintenance'' account funding:
--Components of the facility may be repaired by replacement,
and such replacement may be up to current standards or
code.
--Interior arrangements and restorations may be included as
repair, but additions, new facilities, and functional
conversions must be performed as military construction
projects.
--Such projects may be done concurrent with repair projects,
as long as the final conjunctively funded project is a
complete and usable facility.
--The appropriate Service Secretary shall submit a 21-day
notification prior to carrying out any repair project
with an estimated cost in excess of $7,500,000.
The Department is directed to continue to report on the
real property maintenance backlog at all installations for
which there is a requested construction project in future
budget requests. This information is to be provided on the form
1390. In addition, for all troop housing requests, the form
1391 is to continue to show all real property maintenance
conducted in the past 2 years and all future requirements for
unaccompanied housing at that installation.
INCREMENTAL FUNDING
In general, the Committee supports full funding for
military construction projects. However, it continues to be the
practice of the Committee to provide incremental funding for
certain large projects, despite administration policy to the
contrary, to enable the services to more efficiently allocate
military construction dollars among projects that can be
executed in the year of appropriation. For fiscal year 2013,
the Committee recommends incremental funding for the following
projects: High Performance Computing Center, increment 2, Fort
Meade, Maryland; U.S. STRATCOM Replacement Facility, Offutt Air
Force Base, Nebraska; Cadet Barracks, U.S. Military Academy,
West Point, New York; Hospital Replacement, Fort Bliss, Texas;
and Explosives Handling Wharf 2, Kitsap, Washington.
FUTURE YEARS DEFENSE PROGRAM
The Future Years Defense Program [FYDP] submitted with the
fiscal year 2013 budget request represents a 41-percent
decrease in projected military construction funding from the
FYDP submitted in fiscal year 2012, with a particularly
dramatic reduction in projected funding versus the actual
budget request for fiscal year 2013. Over the span of the new
FYDP, for both Active and Reserve components, proposed Army
military construction is reduced by more than $12,000,000,000,
or 60 percent; proposed Navy and Marine Corps military
construction is reduced by $2,700,000,000, or 24 percent; and
proposed Air Force military construction is reduced by
$1,700,000,000, or 19 percent.
Neither DOD nor the services have offered a detailed
explanation of why projects previously programmed in the FYDP
for 2013 were deferred, how these deferrals will affect mission
requirements and operational needs, whether the Department
intends to propose any or all of these projects in immediate
future years, and how the deferral of military construction
projects in 2013 will affect the timing of projects previously
programmed in the FYDP over the next several years
The Committee recognizes the difficulty in planning for
future military construction requirements in the face of a
fiscally constrained budgetary environment, planned end
strength reductions for the Army and Marine Corps, major
restructuring initiatives for the Air Force, and global posture
realignments. However, a hollow FYDP is of little value to
Congress in evaluating the current military construction
request in the context of longer-range military construction
planning and hampers the ability of the Department and the
Congress to make prudent and forward-looking investments.
In light of the drastic changes from the fiscal year 2012
FYDP to the fiscal year 2013 FYDP, the Committee directs the
services and the defense agencies to provide to the Committee,
within 90 days of enactment of this act, a detailed listing of
projects that were included in the fiscal year 2012 FYDP for
2013 but were dropped from the 2013 budget request, and an
explanation of why each project was dropped. The Committee
further expects DOD to provide a comprehensive FYDP with the
fiscal year 2014 budget request, reflecting reassessed
strategic needs and force structure realignments.
Although the Committee recognizes the need for fiscal
restraint in defense spending in the current budgetary
environment, it remains concerned that military construction
funding not be cannibalized to finance other defense programs,
as critical as they might be. Military construction is the
foundation of the living and working conditions for military
personnel and their families. The extreme reduction in the
fiscal year 2013 military construction budget request when
compared to recent years, in tandem with the skeletonized
fiscal year 2013 FYDP, raises a warning flag about DOD's
commitment to vital military construction requirements that the
Committee will closely monitor.
ENERGY POLICY
The Department of Defense is the largest consumer of energy
in the Federal Government, accounting for nearly 80 percent of
the government's total energy consumption. DOD spends nearly
$4,000,000,000 annually on facility energy alone, nearly a
quarter of its total energy costs. However, installation energy
consumption accounts for nearly 40 percent of the Department's
greenhouse gas emissions. The Committee commends the Department
for its aggressive efforts to improve the energy efficiency of
its buildings and installations, reduce consumption, mitigate
its carbon footprint, invest in renewable energy projects, and
enhance energy security on its installations.
The Committee also supports the efforts of the Department
to incorporate green building technologies into both new
construction and renovations of buildings. As noted in the
past, the Committee believes that the use of these technologies
should be a fundamental consideration in the design or retrofit
of all military construction projects.
In particular, the Committee believes that the Department
should maximize the use of energy efficient, eco-friendly
roofing technologies for new construction and renovations,
including family housing construction and renovation. These
technologies include, but are not limited to, photovoltaic
panels, solar thermal roof coatings, rooftop direct use solar
lighting technology, green roofs, and cool roofs. In an effort
to capture the most innovative of these technologies, the
Committee encourages the Department and the services to monitor
new technologies emerging from government, industry, or
university research and development programs.
Although federally mandated sustainable design policies and
energy efficiency goals are standard elements of military
construction design, the Committee encourages the Department
and the services to incorporate additional leading-edge
technologies into the construction program and to utilize new
and underutilized, low-cost energy-efficient technologies that
provide the best value to taxpayers through minimal life-cycle
costs.
While strongly supportive of DOD's commitment to green
buildings, and its goal to promote cost-effective
sustainability, the Committee is concerned that the
Department's current approach to sustainable construction could
result in giving preference to one green building certification
system to the exclusion of others, particularly wood products.
The Committee expects DOD to ensure equal acceptance of
forestry certification systems, and to allow systems designated
as American National Standards to compete equally for use in
the Department's building construction and major renovations,
subject to Buy America requirements.
Cybersecure Microgrids at Military Installations.--The
Committee is impressed with the progress the Department has
made in deploying microgrids to mitigate risk to mission
critical assets and promote energy independence at military
installations through the Smart Power Infrastructure
Demonstration for Energy Reliability and Security [SPIDERS]
program. However, the Committee remains concerned that most
installations across the country are dependent on commercial
grids, which could potentially compromise the security and
access to reliable supplies of energy necessary to meet mission
essential requirements. The Committee believes the Department
should study and evaluate using cybersecure microgrid
technologies to promote energy security. Therefore, the
Secretary of Defense shall submit a report to the congressional
defense committees, no later than 180 days from the enactment
of this act, regarding: (1) the status of microgrid
demonstrations currently deployed domestically; (2) the
Department's plan to secure energy supplied to military
installations to meet mission essential requirements; and (3)
the potential benefits of the wide-spread use of secure
microgrid technology on domestic military installations.
GLOBAL CHALLENGES
At a time of global economic insecurity and shifting
strategic concerns, the United States military is faced with
myriad challenges in rebalancing its overseas force posture. In
Europe, the Department is engaged in a wide-ranging review of
its force structure in an effort to sustain a strong NATO
alliance, draw down United States conventional forces, and
enhance rotational training and engagement opportunities with
the militaries of both legacy and nascent NATO partners. In
addition, the Department is building new capabilities on the
continent to deploy its European missile defense strategy. As
the largest United States force presence in Europe, the Army is
facing the most dramatic force structure realignments, with
many details still to be resolved.
In both the Africa and Central commands, contingency and
anti-terrorism related developments are affecting the current
force structure assumptions. The scheduled withdrawal of United
States combat troops from Afghanistan by the end of 2014 is
already impacting contingency construction in Afghanistan, but
as the United States transitions to a stability presence in the
Central Command, new military construction requirements are
emerging in such countries as Bahrain, Qatar, and Oman.
Political instability in the region is a complicating factor in
assessing future requirements.
In the Africa Command, emerging terrorist threats from such
countries as Somalia and Yemen require an enhanced and flexible
military construction platform that can support a dynamic and
frequently changing mission set.
Perhaps the greatest challenge is in the Pacific Area of
Responsibility, where the administration's recent pivot to
enhance the United States military's presence in the region has
led to a complete re-evaluation of United States basing
strategy, particularly in negotiations with the Government of
Japan over plans to relocate United States military forces from
Okinawa to Guam.
Following are discussions of some of the key elements of
these strategic realignment plans as they relate to force
structure and military construction requirements.
European Command [EUCOM].--As part of the overall force
structure realignment in Europe, as well as the proposed
reduction in Army end-strength, the requirement for future Army
military construction in Europe is in flux. The Committee notes
that the Army is currently undergoing significant force
structure reductions in Europe, including the removal of two of
four heavy brigades, a corps headquarters, and various combat
support units. According to DOD, the remaining Army forces in
Europe would be regularly augmented by rotational forces.
Previous DOD and Government Accountability Office analyses
suggest that such force structure reductions could reduce
overseas posture costs. However, efforts to develop a detailed
and comprehensive savings estimate are hindered by decisions
that have not been finalized, including, but not limited to,
plans for the Army's overall force structure; the permanent
location of U.S. Africa Command headquarters, which is
currently located in Stuttgart, Germany; the consolidation of
U.S. European Command headquarters; the potential increase in
special operations forces in Europe, and the size, frequency,
and equipment requirements for the rotation of Army units to
Europe. Absent these decisions, it is difficult for the
Committee to determine future Army infrastructure requirements
in Europe.
The Committee supports the Department's plans to invest in
military construction requirements in Europe for the U.S.
European missile defense program, but cautions that those
requirements should be fully validated before funding is
requested. This is particularly important in light of the fact
that European missile defense-related requests in the fiscal
year 2013 budget for funding for the Air Force were deemed
unnecessary subsequent to the submission of the fiscal year
2013 budget request.
Central Command [CENTCOM].--The Committee fully supports
military construction investments required for United States
combat forces in Afghanistan. Although the fiscal year 2013
military construction budget request does not include any new
military construction for Afghanistan, the Committee notes that
many previously funded military construction projects have been
cancelled, and that the services have requested new projects in
their stead. Infrastructure requirements in a rapidly evolving
combat environment are by their nature fluid, but the Committee
urges the Department to ensure that scarce defense dollars are
not spent for non-essential military construction projects at
temporary bases given that such projects may not be completed
before the withdrawal of United States troops.
The Committee is also concerned with proposed military
construction investments in countries within CENTCOM that are
experiencing political upheaval. For example, although the
Committee recommends funding for two Navy projects in Bahrain,
which is the headquarters for the Navy's 5th Fleet, it remains
concerned that political dissent in Bahrain could threaten the
current government and jeopardize the United States investment.
The Committee urges the Navy to examine alternative basing
arrangements for the 5th Fleet should the political situation
in Bahrain become untenable.
The Committee also believes that all infrastructure
investments in the Central Command should be considered
expeditionary, as most troops rotate through these bases on a
very limited deployment schedule, and therefore should not be
expected to meet permanent stationing requirements.
Africa Command [AFRICOM].--AFRICOM's strategic role is
increasingly important given recent troubling developments in
the Horn of Africa as well as political and economic
instability throughout the continent. Somalia's statelessness
and economic malaise have provided a power vacuum for the
terrorist group al-Shabaab to operate and coordinate with al
Qaeda affiliates in Yemen, and widespread piracy in the Gulf of
Aden threatens global shipping lanes between the Mediterranean
Sea and the Indian Ocean. In light of these challenges, the
Committee recognizes the importance of maintaining a United
States military presence in the Horn of Africa.
However, the Committee continues to be concerned about the
long-term mission of AFRICOM at Camp Lemonier in Djibouti, the
only enduring United States military base in Africa. Camp
Lemonier is a Navy base with the primary mission of supporting
the Combined Joint Task Force--Horn of Africa [CJTF-HOA], which
is an inherently temporary mission, intended to focus on
antiterrorism and capacity building in Africa.
As such, the Committee sees a serious disconnect between
the mission critical requirements of CJTF-HOA and the
installation management requirements of the Navy. Without full
coordination with AFRICOM, the Navy is expected to provide a
master plan for the installation based on fragmented and
evolving requirements of the AFRICOM mission. This disconnect
has led to flawed siting decisions for facilities, and
expensive work-around solutions. Additionally, limited space at
Camp Lemonier makes it difficult to provide sufficient
facilities to accommodate the range of missions and
fluctuations in force structure elements.
The strategic and operational importance of AFRICOM
underscores the necessity for DOD to finalize a coordinated
master plan for Camp Lemonier. Despite repeated requests, the
Committee notes that, to date, it has not been provided with a
comprehensive master plan for Camp Lemonier, and directs
AFRICOM to coordinate with the Navy to provide a master plan
for the installation that incorporates AFRICOM's dynamic
requirements, including airfield, housing, and operational
flexibility.
Additionally, 5 years after its establishment, AFRICOM has
not made a decision as to where it will locate its permanent
headquarters, and the Committee urges DOD to reach a decision.
The lack of a master plan for Camp Lemonier, its status as
the host for a temporary task force, and the lack of a
permanent AFRICOM headquarters location hamper long-range
planning efforts, and raise concerns about long-term funding
options. Comprehensive medium- and long-range plans must be
developed in order for DOD and Congress to develop cost
estimates and evaluate future infrastructure investments at
Camp Lemonier.
Pacific Command [PACOM].--Nowhere is the evolving nature of
United States force posture overseas more apparent than in the
Pacific Area of Operation [AOR]. For the past 6 years, the
Department has been struggling to implement a PACOM strategy
that called for the relocation of 8,500 U.S. marines from
Okinawa to Guam, construction of a new U.S. military base in
Okinawa, and tour normalization in Korea, by which
unaccompanied tours would be migrated to permanent tours to
include all military personnel and their families. Today, that
strategy has been turned on its head.
In the past year, the administration has decided to limit
the number of U.S. marines scheduled to relocate from Okinawa
to Guam, re-negotiate the relocation plan with the Government
of Japan, de-link Guam relocation from the timing of
construction of a new U.S. military base in Okinawa, and scrap
future tour normalization for Korea. Instead, the
Administration has proposed a new strategic plan for the
Pacific AOR that provides for U.S. rotational forces in
Australia, Singapore and the Philippines, a reduced presence of
U.S. marines permanently based in Guam, and a planned shift of
2,500 marines from Okinawa to Hawaii.
These changes have profound implications for military
construction requirements in the PACOM AOR. As the Department
continues to refine its military construction requirements to
adapt to this new strategy, the Committee looks forward to a
revised and comprehensive basing plan that will encompass these
changes. In the interim, the Committee has deferred funding
additional military construction related to the relocation of
U.S. marines to Guam.
Landstuhl Regional Medical Center.--The Committee continues
to support construction of a new Army hospital at
Kaiserslautern, Germany, to replace the aging and inefficient
Landstuhl Regional Medical Center [LRMC]. As the military's
only tertiary care hospital in Europe, LRMC is a key medical
facility for United States forces in Germany and throughout the
European Command, as a well as a strategic hub for United
States troops wounded in Iraq and Afghanistan.
However, the Committee remains concerned about the fidelity
of the baseline data and the accuracy of the documentation on
which the Department determined the cost, size, and scope of
the new hospital. Further, DOD's January 2012 announcement of
additional force reductions in Europe raises questions as to
how those posture changes will impact the projected patient
workload for the new hospital. The Committee expects DOD to
address these and other concerns raised by the congressional
defense committees before finalizing plans for the hospital.
The fiscal year 2012 Military Construction and Veterans
Affairs, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act (Public Law
112-74) provided conditional funding for increment 1, site
preparation, for the replacement hospital pending certification
of the final size and scope requirement by the Secretary of
Defense. Although that certification remains pending, the
Committee recognizes the need to avoid unnecessary delays in
moving forward to lay the groundwork for a replacement
facility, and recommends funding the second increment at the
fully requested amount of $127,000,000, with the understanding
that all funding remains conditional on the Secretary's
certification.
At a time of severe budgetary pressures throughout the
Government, it is imperative for DOD to fully document and
justify the cost and requirement for every military
construction project. This is particularly important for a
project of this size and scope to be built overseas in a region
that is currently undergoing major force posture reductions. As
such, the Committee will continue to closely monitor this
project.
Defense Access Roads.--With the consolidation of military
facilities through BRAC 2005 realignments and transformation
initiatives, traffic congestion around growth installations has
become a major issue, particularly in densely populated urban
areas. The Defense Access Road [DAR] program is DOD's only
funding mechanism for building or improving access roads
outside of military installations. However, the program is
currently constrained by strict eligibility requirements, such
as the doubling of existing traffic congestion, which makes it
extremely difficult for congested urban areas to qualify for
DAR certification.
The Committee understands that DOD is developing a plan to
improve and expand the DAR program, utilizing the findings of
the Government Accountability Office in its report, GAO-11-165,
and the Transportation Research Board's 2011 study, ``Federal
Funding of Transportation Improvements in BRAC Cases.'' The
Committee directs the Department to provide the congressional
defense committees a detailed report on the proposed plan and
recommendations with the submission of the fiscal year 2014
budget request. The plan should address the concerns and
directives included in the Senate Appropriations Committee's
fiscal year 2012 Military Construction, Veterans Affairs and
Related Agencies Report 112-29.
Well-planned and maintained transportation infrastructure
adjacent to military facilities increases mobility, improves
livability, and enhances relations between the base and the
local community. In addition to the DAR program, DOD should
evaluate ways it can work with the Department of
Transportation, State governments, and local communities to
seek alternatives to efficiently address critical
transportation infrastructure shortfalls near military
installations. The Committee also encourages the Department to
improve interagency coordination to harness other Federal
resources and address major traffic needs at military
installations affected by large population increases.
General/Flag Officer Quarters [GFOQ].--As noted previously,
this Committee is concerned that the Department of Defense is
spending an inordinate amount of taxpayer funds on leases,
maintenance, and upgrades for GFOQs overseas. The Committee is
pleased to see a decrease in the number of instances in the
current request in which operations and maintenance costs for
individual quarters exceeded the $35,000 statutory limit, but
the Department has yet to provide Congress with a report, as
requested last year, on the cost benefit of maintaining high-
cost overseas GFOQs. The Committee is concerned that in many
instances the expense for these quarters is unreasonable and
not a prudent use of taxpayer funds. The Committee therefore
directs the Department to initiate a thorough review of all
planned expenditures on GFOQ housing and provide a report to
the congressional defense committees, no later than December
21, 2012, outlining a business case analysis for all high-cost
GFOQ overseas housing, including a justification of whether the
lease or other housing arrangement is advantageous to the
Government, and an evaluation of any reasonable alternatives.
Military Construction, Army
Appropriations, 2012.................................... $3,006,491,000
Budget estimate, 2013................................... 1,923,323,000
Committee recommendation................................ 1,684,323,000
PROGRAM DESCRIPTION
The military construction appropriation for the Army
provides for acquisition, construction, installation, and
equipment of temporary or permanent public works, military
installations, facilities, and real property for the Army. This
appropriation also provides for facilities required as well as
funds for infrastructure projects and programs required to
support bases and installations around the world.
COMMITTEE RECOMMENDATION
The Committee recommends $1,684,323,000 for the Army for
fiscal year 2013. This amount is $1,322,168,000 below the
fiscal year 2012 enacted level, and $239,000,000 below the
budget request. Further detail of the Committee's
recommendation is provided in the State table at the end of
this report.
Arlington National Cemetery Construction.--The Army's
fiscal year 2013 military construction budget request includes
$103,000,000 ($84,000,000 in major construction and $19,000,000
in planning and design) to develop the Millennium site and
future construction at Arlington National Cemetery [ANC] to
increase burial space. Although the cemetery is under the
general authority of the Army, because of ANC's unique nature
and national importance, it was established as a related agency
under the jurisdiction of this subcommittee so that it would be
independent from the regular Army for funding purposes, thus
insulating it from funding competition with other Army
programs.
The Committee strongly believes that the Army's request--
which also included a provision to allow the transfer of Army
Operation and Maintenance funding to ANC--would undermine
oversight of Arlington National Cemetery by setting a precedent
of comingling ANC and Army appropriations.
The Committee, therefore, has denied the Army's request of
$84,000,000 in military construction funding for the Millennium
project at Arlington National Cemetery and $19,000,000 for
planning and design for future burial space expansion, and
instead appropriated those sums directly to ANC through the
``Department of Defense--Civil, Cemeterial Expenses, Army''
account in title III, Related Agencies, of this act.
In addition, the Committee has included an administrative
provision in title I of this act prohibiting the use of any
funds appropriated under this title for military construction
activities at Arlington National Cemetery.
West Point Cadet Barracks.--The budget request includes
$192,000,000 for a new 650-bed cadet barracks at the U.S.
Military Academy at West Point, New York. The Committee has
certain reservations about this project in the context of
overall barracks deficiencies at West Point, and recommends
funding the project in increments to allow design modifications
as warranted. The Committee recommendation includes $86,000,000
for the first increment, which is the amount Army officials
determined fulfills the requirement for fiscal year 2013.
The Committee recognizes the importance and historical
significance of West Point, and strongly believes that cadet
barracks must provide both adequate space and suitable living
conditions for each resident. The Committee also understands
that, given the traditions of West Point, it is important to
maintain the appropriate style and facade of new construction,
and to ensure that cadet barracks are centrally located to
allow for daily formations and proximity to classrooms. As a
result of those constraints, the only apparent suitable site
for the new barracks presents construction challenges that
significantly drive up the cost of construction. Seismic and
antiterrorism/force protection requirements add further to
construction costs.
While the Committee understands these constraints, it
directs the Army to re-evaluate space and design requirements
for the new barracks to ensure that the Army is not
overbuilding or overdesigning, and that the barracks will be
sized appropriately to address only the estimated barracks
deficit based on the statutory cap of 4,400 cadets at West
Point, or any pending modification of that requirement. This is
an extremely important consideration at a time when the Army is
facing significant reductions in its end-strength, which will
impact the number of new officers required annually to meet the
Army's needs.
Additionally, the Committee urges the Army to develop a
recapitalization plan for the existing barracks that alleviates
the current overcrowding of the dorms without waiting for
completion of the new barracks to address this problem.
Committee staff traveled to West Point in April 2012 to assess
the requirement for the new barracks as well as the condition
of existing barracks. Tours of three of the nine cadet barracks
revealed substandard and potentially unsafe living conditions,
including overcrowding, interior water damage, peeling paint,
electrical deficiencies, and general neglect of the facilities.
These deficiencies are inexcusable, and the Army's plan to
defer renovations until 2018, when the new barracks will be
completed and can be used for swing space, is unacceptable.
Between fiscal years 2007 and 2010, the most recent years
for which the Army has comparative data, West Point spent a
total of $219,233,040 in sustainment, restoration, and
modernization [SRM] funding, of which only $20,385,714--less
than 10 percent of the total--was used for cadet barracks
upkeep and modernization. However, the Army's barracks
renovation plan for West Point calls for a nine-phase,
$642,000,000 program beginning in 2018 with renovation
timelines and funding requirements assumed to be one building
per year. Given the current level of annual SRM funding for
West Point, which has averaged about $55,000,000 per year over
the past 6 years, the Committee is skeptical of the Army's
ability to adequately fund the renovation plan.
In sum, the Committee supports the Army's efforts to reduce
overcrowding and improve living conditions at cadet barracks,
but it questions the Army's priorities in deferring the start
of renovations to existing dorms for a minimum of 5 years to
give precedence to the construction of a new barracks,
particularly given that West Point has managed to accommodate
the cadets in the nine existing barracks for the past 40 years
without requesting additional barracks construction.
The Committee, therefore, directs the Army to provide a
report to the congressional defense committees no later than
March 25, 2013, on the feasibility of renovating existing cadet
barracks in phases, such as one wing of a building at a time,
in tandem with construction of the new barracks. The report
should include cost and timetable estimates, and a plan for
housing displaced cadets during the renovation process.
Military Construction, Navy and Marine Corps
Appropriations, 2012.................................... $2,112,823,000
Budget estimate, 2013................................... 1,701,985,000
Committee recommendation................................ 1,650,240,000
PROGRAM DESCRIPTION
The Military Construction appropriation for the Navy and
Marine Corps provides for acquisition, construction,
installation, and equipment of temporary or permanent public
works, naval installations, facilities, and real property for
the Navy and the Marine Corps. This appropriation also provides
for facilities required as well as funds for infrastructure
projects and programs required to support bases and
installations around the world.
COMMITTEE RECOMMENDATION
The Committee recommends $1,650,240,000 for Navy and Marine
Corps military construction for fiscal year 2013. This amount
is $462,583,000 below the fiscal year 2012 enacted level, and
$51,745,000 below the budget request. Further detail of the
Committee's recommendation is provided in the State table at
the end of this report.
Investment in Navy Public Shipyards.--In the Senate
Committee report accompanying the Military Construction and
Veterans Affairs, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act for
Fiscal Year 2012, the Committee urged the Navy to evaluate and
accelerate military construction projects in the Future Years
Defense Program that could improve the safety, effectiveness,
or efficiency of the work performed at the Navy's public
shipyards. However, the budget request for fiscal year 2013
includes only one military construction project at a Navy
shipyard. To ensure the Committee's concerns are sufficiently
addressed, the Committee directs the Secretary of the Navy to
report to the Committees on Appropriations of both Houses of
Congress, within 60 days of enactment of this act, on the
Department's review and evaluation of military construction
projects that could be accelerated to improve the safety,
effectiveness, or efficiency of the work performed at the
Navy's public shipyards.
Military Construction, Air Force
Appropriations, 2012.................................... $1,227,058,000
Budget estimate, 2013................................... 388,200,000
Committee recommendation................................ 322,543,000
PROGRAM DESCRIPTION
The military construction appropriation for the Air Force
provides for acquisition, construction, installation, and
equipment of temporary or permanent public works, military
installations, facilities, and real property for the Air Force.
This appropriation also provides for facilities required as
well as funds for infrastructure projects and programs required
to support bases and installations around the world.
COMMITTEE RECOMMENDATION
The Committee recommends $322,543,000 for the Air Force in
fiscal year 2013. This amount is $904,515,000 below the fiscal
year 2012 enacted level, and $65,657,000 below the budget
request. Further detail of the Committee's recommendation is
provided in the State table at the end of this report.
STRATCOM Headquarters.--The Committee fully supports the
construction of a new Strategic Command [STRATCOM] headquarters
at Offutt Air Force Base, Nebraska, a $564,000,000 project, and
appropriated the first increment of $120,000,000 in fiscal year
2012. However, contract award delays have resulted in no
military construction funding being obligated to date. It is
the practice of the Committee to provide incremental funding
for large projects to ensure that only sufficient funds will be
appropriated annually to ensure execution in the year of
appropriation. Given the construction award delay, the Air
Force has indicated that no more than $128,000,000 will be
required in fiscal year 2013. Therefore, the Committee
recommends funding for increment 2 of the STRATCOM Headquarters
at $128,000,000, instead of the requested amount of
$161,000,000. The Air Force has also assured the Committee that
incremental funding has not, and will not, delay the completion
of this project.
Quality of Life.--Enhancing the quality of life for
military families is one of the Committee's highest priorities.
Despite current budgetary pressures on the services, the
Committee recognizes the need to continue to focus on promoting
military construction projects that support the quality of life
of our servicemembers and their families. Given the steep
reduction in military construction funding for the Air Force,
the Committee is particularly concerned about the
prioritization of resources for improving and maintaining the
quality of life at Air Force installations, including housing,
support services, and transportation improvements. In light of
the recent spike in gasoline prices, the Committee believes
that efforts to improve transportation flow and reduce
commuting times for military personnel and their families
should receive special consideration. The Committee strongly
urges the Air Force to prioritize those projects that will
improve the quality of life for servicemembers and military
families on and around Air Force installations, especially
those installations supporting major commands and numbered Air
Forces.
Air Force Infrastructure Consolidation.--The Committee
recognizes the Air Force's efforts to reduce overhead
throughout its budget. As the Air Force continues to scrutinize
its infrastructure for savings, the Committee recommends that
the Air Force pay special attention to consolidating
infrastructure and commands on its installations, including,
but not limited to, communications, civil engineering, and
administrative facilities.
Aerospace Control Alert Facilities.--Aerospace Control
Alert facilities contribute to the safety and security of our
Nation. The Air Force squadrons that sit alert at these
facilities spend 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, on standby in
order to provide that protection to the Nation's critical
infrastructure, often in substandard temporary facilities. The
Committee encourages the Air Force to accelerate the planned
permanent construction of all alert facilities that are
currently composed of substandard mobile and modular building
units.
Military Construction, Defense-Wide
(INCLUDING TRANSFER OF FUNDS)
Appropriations, 2012.................................... $3,431,957,000
Budget estimate, 2013................................... 3,654,623,000
Committee recommendation................................ 3,442,123,000
PROGRAM DESCRIPTION
The military construction appropriation for the Department
of Defense provides for acquisition, construction,
installation, and equipment of temporary or permanent public
works, military installations, facilities, and real property
Defense-Wide. This appropriation also provides for facilities
required as well as funds for infrastructure projects and
programs required to support bases and installations around the
world.
COMMITTEE RECOMMENDATION
The Committee recommends $3,442,123,000 for projects
considered within the ``Defense-Wide'' account in fiscal year
2013. This amount is $10,166,000 above the fiscal year 2012
enacted level and $212,500,000 below the budget request.
Further detail of the Committee's recommendation is provided in
the State table at the end of this report.
Fort Bragg Infrastructure Project.--The Committee
recommendation includes funding increases totaling $30,000,000
for three Special Operations Command [SOCOM] projects included
in the budget request at Fort Bragg, North Carolina: Battalion
Operations Facility, Civil Affairs Battalion Complex, and
Sustainment Brigade Complex. The purpose of the additional
funding is to incorporate related utility and road
infrastructure improvements into each of the projects instead
of funding the infrastructure as a $30,000,000 stand-alone Army
project, as requested in the budget submission. The Committee
is concerned that the requested stand-alone project does not
yield a complete and useable facility. Therefore, the Committee
recommendation does not include funding for the infrastructure
project as requested in the Army military construction account
and instead distributes the $30,000,000 among the three SOCOM
projects in equal amounts of $10,000,000 each in the Defense-
Wide military construction account. The Committee directs SOCOM
to update the project justification documents to incorporate
the appropriate infrastructure element, and to submit a revised
request for each of the SOCOM projects as soon as is
practicable.
Medical Centers and Family Pavilions.--The Committee notes
that health facilities on many installations that have
experienced rapid growth in recent years, including newly
aligned joint bases, are inadequate to meet the needs of the
increased number of servicemembers and their families seeking
medical resources. The military services' surgeons general
should work with their Installation Management Commands to
ensure that the appropriate family, maternal, and infant
healthcare facilities are incorporated into and prioritized in
the overall construction budget of growth bases. These
construction budgets should reflect the need for additional
capacity to provide medical care for servicemembers, their
families, and their children.
CONTINGENCY CONSTRUCTION
The Committee has provided $10,000,000 for the Secretary of
Defense ``Contingency Construction'' account, equal to the
request. This account provides funds which may be used by the
Secretary of Defense for unforeseen facility requirements and
military exercises, including those related to overseas
contingency operations.
ENERGY CONSERVATION INVESTMENT PROGRAM
The Committee recommends the requested level of
$150,000,000 for the Energy Conservation Investment Program
[ECIP]. The Committee also recommends a transfer of $10,000,000
from unspecified Defense-Wide planning and design into a
separate line item for ECIP planning and design to ensure that
adequate funds are available for future ECIP project planning.
ECIP is the only dedicated stream of funding for energy
projects within DOD. Historically, ECIP has funded small
projects with rapid payback. As DOD moves more aggressively to
develop renewable energy resources and improve energy security,
ECIP is emerging as a major tool to leverage investment in
larger projects, such as net-zero energy facilities or smart
grid technologies, that are intended to produce significant
improvements in energy consumption, costs, and security at
single or multiple installations. The Committee encourages the
Department to continue using ECIP funds to leverage investments
in game-changing major energy projects, particularly renewable
energy initiatives.
The Committee notes that, in addition to ECIP funding, the
fiscal year 2013 budget request includes two projects in the
major construction program intended primarily to improve energy
efficiency and security (an Army-funded ground source heat
transfer system at Fort Benning, Georgia, and a Navy-funded
remotely controlled electrical distribution system at Diego
Garcia). The Committee believes that energy efficiency, energy
security, and renewable energy investments are mission-critical
requirements to reduce DOD's dependence on costly and
potentially unreliable sources of commercial energy, and
encourages the services and the defense agencies to
aggressively pursue opportunities to include projects designed
to improve installation energy efficiency and security in their
major construction programs as well as through ECIP.
Military Construction, Reserve Components
Appropriations, 2012.................................... $1,230,306,000
Budget estimate, 2013................................... 1,022,542,000
Committee recommendation................................ 1,022,542,000
PROGRAM DESCRIPTION
The military construction appropriation for Reserve
components provides for acquisition, construction, expansion,
rehabilitation, and conversion of facilities for the training
and administration of the Reserve components. This
appropriation also provides for facilities required as well as
funds for infrastructure projects and programs required to
support bases and installations.
COMMITTEE RECOMMENDATION
The Committee recommends $1,022,542,000 for military
construction projects for the Guard and Reserve components for
fiscal year 2013. This amount is $207,764,000 below the fiscal
year 2012 enacted level and equal to the budget request.
Further detail of the Committee's recommendation is provided in
the State table at the end of this report.
The Committee recommends approval of military construction,
Reserve components, as outlined in the following table:
RESERVE COMPONENTS
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Committee
Component Budget request recommendation
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Army National Guard................... $613,799,000 $613,799,000
Air National Guard.................... 42,386,000 42,386,000
Army Reserve.......................... 305,846,000 305,846,000
Navy Reserve.......................... 49,532,000 49,532,000
Air Force Reserve..................... 10,979,000 10,979,000
---------------------------------
Total........................... 1,022,542,000 1,022,542,000
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Army Guard Training Facilities.--The need to reduce the
Army-wide backlog of soldiers currently on the waiting list in
the Non-Commissioned Officer Education System [NCOES] is
crucial. Therefore, the Committee requests the Department of
the Army to continue expansion and development of National
Guard training facilities that serve active duty, guard, and
reserve members. Priority should be given to schools considered
Centers of Excellence for critical military occupational
specialties.
Army Guard Readiness Centers.--The Committee is aware that
approximately 40 percent of Army National Guard readiness
centers are more than 50 years old. These facilities require
renovation or replacement in order to meet the needs of
training and maintaining a 21st century operational force.
Unfortunately, DOD investment in Army Guard construction
projects lags far behind the requirement. The Committee urges
the Army to re-evaluate its investment plan for Army National
Guard construction projects to ensure that all projects
included in the Infrastructure Requirements Plan are maintained
in the Future Years Defense Program.
North Atlantic Treaty Organization
SECURITY INVESTMENT PROGRAM
Appropriations, 2012.................................... $247,611,000
Budget estimate, 2013................................... 254,163,000
Committee recommendation................................ 254,163,000
PROGRAM DESCRIPTION
The North Atlantic Treaty Organization [NATO] appropriation
provides for the U.S. cost share of the NATO Security
Investment Program for the acquisition and construction of
military facilities and installations (including international
military headquarters) and for related expenses for the
collective defense of the NATO Treaty area.
COMMITTEE RECOMMENDATION
The Committee recommends $254,163,000 for the North
Atlantic Treaty Organization Security Investment Program [NSIP]
for fiscal year 2013 as requested. This amount is $6,552,000
above the fiscal year 2012 enacted level and equal to the
budget request.
Family Housing Overview
Appropriations, 2012.................................... $1,682,946,000
Budget estimate, 2013................................... 1,650,781,000
Committee recommendation................................ 1,650,781,000
PROGRAM DESCRIPTION
The Family Housing appropriation provides funds for
military family housing construction activities, operation and
maintenance, the Family Housing Improvement Fund, and the
Homeowners Assistance Program. Construction accounts provide
funding for new construction, improvements and the Federal
Government share of housing privatization. Operation and
maintenance accounts fund costs associated with the maintenance
and leasing of military family housing, including utilities,
services, management, and furnishings.
COMMITTEE RECOMMENDATION
The Committee recommends $1,650,781,000 for Family Housing
Construction, Operations and Maintenance, and the Department's
family housing improvement fund for fiscal year 2013. This
amount is $32,165,000 below the fiscal year 2012 enacted level
and equal to the budget request.
Family Housing Construction, Army
Appropriations, 2012.................................... $176,897,000
Budget estimate, 2013................................... 4,641,000
Committee recommendation................................ 4,641,000
PROGRAM DESCRIPTION
The family housing appropriation for the Army provides for
expenses of family housing for construction, including
acquisition, replacement, addition, expansion, extension, and
alteration. This appropriation provides for the financing of
all costs for construction, improvements, and leasing of all
Army housing. In addition to quality-of-life enhancements, the
program contains initiatives to reduce operating costs and
conserve energy by upgrading or replacing facilities which can
be made more efficient through relatively modest investments in
improvements. The Department of Defense is authorized to use
limited partnerships, make direct and guaranteed loans, and
convey Department-owned property to stimulate the private
sector to increase the availability of affordable, quality
housing for the Army.
COMMITTEE RECOMMENDATION
The Committee recommends $4,641,000 for Army Family Housing
Construction in fiscal year 2013, an amount equal to the budget
request and $172,256,000 below the fiscal year 2012 enacted
level, a decrease of 97.5 percent. This reduction reflects the
completion of the Army's scheduled housing privatization
through the Residential Community Initiative [RCI], and the
elimination of inadequate housing stock. Accordingly, fiscal
year 2013 funding is for planning and design purposes only. The
Committee encourages the Army to evaluate the effect that the
planned reduction in Army force structure will have on the
occupancy and viability of its privatized family housing
projects.
Family Housing Operation and Maintenance, Army
Appropriations, 2012.................................... $493,458,000
Budget estimate, 2013................................... 530,051,000
Committee recommendation................................ 530,051,000
PROGRAM DESCRIPTION
The family housing operation and maintenance appropriation
for the Army provides for the operation and maintenance of
family housing. This includes debt payment, leasing, minor
construction, principal and interest charges, and insurance
premiums of Army family housing.
COMMITTEE RECOMMENDATION
The Committee recommends $530,051,000 for family housing
operation and maintenance, Army for fiscal year 2013. This
amount is $36,593,000 above the fiscal year 2012 enacted level
and equal to the budget request.
Family Housing Construction, Navy and Marine Corps
Appropriations, 2012.................................... $100,972,000
Budget estimate, 2013................................... 102,182,000
Committee recommendation................................ 102,182,000
PROGRAM DESCRIPTION
The family housing appropriation for the Navy and Marine
Corps provides for expenses of family housing for construction,
including acquisition, replacement, addition, expansion,
extension, and alteration. This appropriation provides for the
financing of all costs for construction, improvements, and
leasing of all Navy and Marine Corps housing. In addition to
quality-of-life enhancements, the program contains initiatives
to reduce operating costs and conserve energy by upgrading or
replacing facilities which can be made more efficient through
relatively modest investments in improvements. The Department
of Defense is authorized to use limited partnerships, make
direct and guaranteed loans, and convey Department-owned
property to stimulate the private sector to increase the
availability of affordable, quality housing for the Navy and
Marine Corps.
COMMITTEE RECOMMENDATION
The Committee recommends $102,182,000 for Family Housing
Construction, Navy and Marine Corps, including construction
improvements, in fiscal year 2013. This amount is $1,210,000
above the fiscal year 2012 enacted level and equal to the
budget request.
CONSTRUCTION
The Committee recommends $4,527,000 for planning and design
for new construction.
CONSTRUCTION IMPROVEMENTS
The following projects are to be accomplished within the
amounts provided for construction improvements:
NAVY AND MARINE CORPS CONSTRUCTION IMPROVEMENTS
[In thousands of dollars]
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Committee
Location Installation Project title Budget request recommendation
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Washington.............................. NAVSUBASE, West Sound...... Northwest Region Privatization PH II............. 27,500 27,500
Guam.................................... NAVBASE, Guam.............. Revitalize Family Housing--Enlisted and Officer.. 28,831 28,831
Japan................................... NAF Atsugi................. Revitalize Family Housing--Enlisted and Officer.. 14,025 14,025
Japan................................... CFA Yokosuka............... Revitalize Family Housing--Enlisted and Officer.. 7,874 7,874
Japan................................... MCAS Iwakuni............... Revitalize Family Housing--Enlisted.............. 17,510 17,510
Japan................................... MCAS Iwakuni............... Family Housing Site Improvements................. 1,915 1,915
-------------------------------
Total............................. ........................... ................................................. 97,655 97,655
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Family Housing Operation and Maintenance, Navy and Marine Corps
Appropriations, 2012.................................... $367,863,000
Budget estimate, 2013................................... 378,230,000
Committee recommendation................................ 378,230,000
PROGRAM DESCRIPTION
The family housing operation and maintenance appropriation
for the Navy and Marine Corps provides for the operation and
maintenance of family housing. This includes debt payment,
leasing, minor construction, principal and interest charges,
and insurance premiums of Navy and Marine Corps family housing.
COMMITTEE RECOMMENDATION
The Committee recommends $378,230,000 for family housing
operation and maintenance, Navy and Marine Corps, in fiscal
year 2013. This amount is $10,367,000 above the fiscal year
2012 enacted level and equal to the budget request.
Family Housing Construction, Air Force
Appropriations, 2012.................................... $60,042,000
Budget estimate, 2013................................... 83,824,000
Committee recommendation................................ 83,824,000
PROGRAM DESCRIPTION
The family housing appropriation for the Air Force provides
for expenses of family housing for construction, including
acquisition, replacement, addition, expansion, extension, and
alteration. This appropriation provides for the financing of
all costs for construction, improvements and leasing of all Air
Force housing. In addition to quality-of-life enhancements, the
program contains initiatives to reduce operating costs and
conserve energy by upgrading or replacing facilities which can
be made more efficient through relatively modest investments in
improvements. The Department of Defense is authorized to use
limited partnerships, make direct and guaranteed loans, and
convey Department-owned property to stimulate the private
sector to increase the availability of affordable, quality
housing for the Air Force.
COMMITTEE RECOMMENDATION
The Committee recommends $83,824,000 for Family Housing
Construction, Air Force, in fiscal year 2013. This amount is
$23,782,000 above the fiscal year 2012 enacted level and equal
to the budget request.
CONSTRUCTION
The Committee recommends $4,253,000 for planning and design
for new construction.
CONSTRUCTION IMPROVEMENTS
The following projects are to be accomplished within the
amounts provided for construction improvements:
AIR FORCE CONSTRUCTION IMPROVEMENTS
[In thousands of dollars]
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Committee
Location Installation Project title Budget request recommendation
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Japan................................... Kadena AB....................... Improve Infrastructure, Phase 2............. 32,558 32,558
Japan................................... Misawa AB....................... Improve Military Family Housing 30,090 30,090
Infrastructure, Phase 2.
Japan................................... Misawa AB....................... Improve Family Housing (416 units).......... 16,923 16,923
-------------------------------
Total............................. ................................ ............................................ 79,571 79,571
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Family Housing Operation and Maintenance, Air Force
Appropriations, 2012.................................... $429,523,000
Budget estimate, 2013................................... 497,829,000
Committee recommendation................................ 497,829,000
PROGRAM DESCRIPTION
The family housing operation and maintenance appropriation
for the Air Force provides for the operation and maintenance of
family housing. This includes debt payment, leasing, minor
construction, principal and interest charges, and insurance
premiums of Air Force family housing.
COMMITTEE RECOMMENDATION
The Committee recommends $497,829,000 for family housing
operation and maintenance, Air Force, in fiscal year 2013. This
amount is $68,306,000 above the fiscal year 2012 enacted level
and equal to the budget request.
Family Housing Operation and Maintenance, Defense-Wide
Appropriations, 2012.................................... $50,723,000
Budget estimate, 2013................................... 52,238,000
Committee recommendation................................ 52,238,000
PROGRAM DESCRIPTION
The Family Housing Operation and Maintenance appropriation
for Defense-Wide provides for the operation and maintenance of
family housing. This includes debt payment, leasing, minor
construction, principal and interest charges, and insurance
premiums of Defense family housing.
COMMITTEE RECOMMENDATION
The Committee recommends $52,238,000 for family housing
operation and maintenance, Defense-Wide, for fiscal year 2013.
This amount is $1,515,000 above the fiscal year 2012 enacted
level and equal to the budget request.
Family Housing Improvement Fund
Appropriations, 2012.................................... $2,184,000
Budget estimate, 2013................................... 1,786,000
Committee recommendation................................ 1,786,000
PROGRAM DESCRIPTION
The family housing improvement appropriation provides for
the Department of Defense to undertake housing initiatives and
to provide an alternative means of acquiring and improving
military family housing and supporting facilities. This account
provides seed money for housing privatization initiatives.
COMMITTEE RECOMMENDATION
The Committee recommends $1,786,000 for the Family Housing
Improvement Fund for fiscal year 2013. This amount is $398,000
below the fiscal year 2012 enacted level and equal to the
budget request.
Homeowners Assistance Fund
Appropriations, 2012.................................... $1,284,000
Budget estimate, 2013...................................................
Committee recommendation................................................
PROGRAM DESCRIPTION
The Homeowners Assistance Program [HAP] provides funds to
assist eligible military personnel and civilian Federal
employee homeowners who sustain a loss on the sale of their
primary residence due to a declining residential real estate
market attributable to the closure or realignment of a military
installation. In Public Law 111-5, the American Recovery and
Reinvestment Act of 2009, the HAP was expanded to provide
mortgage relief to wounded warriors and spouses of fallen
warriors, and to provide temporary mortgage relief to all
military and qualified civilian personnel required by the
Department to relocate who sustained losses on the sale of
their homes due to the mortgage crisis. Program expenses
include payments to homeowners for losses on private sales;
cost of judicial foreclosure; property acquisition by
liquidating and/or assuming outstanding mortgages; partial
payment of homeowners' lost equity on Government acquisitions;
retirement of debt after sale of properties when the Government
assumes mortgages; and administrative expenses.
COMMITTEE RECOMMENDATION
The Department of Defense requested no funding for the
Homeowners Assistance Program for fiscal year 2013. The
Committee recommendation, therefore, does not include any
funding for this account for fiscal year 2013. According to
justification data provided by the Department, sufficient
balances from previous appropriations and revenue generated
from the sale of Government-owned homes remain available in the
HAP account to fund current year program expenses, which
include payments-in-progress and pending claims.
Chemical Demilitarization Construction, Defense-Wide
Appropriations, 2012.................................... $75,312,000
Budget estimate, 2013................................... 151,000,000
Committee recommendation................................ 151,000,000
PROGRAM DESCRIPTION
This account provides funding for design and construction
of full-scale chemical disposal facilities and associated
projects to upgrade installation support facilities and
infrastructure required to support the Chemical
Demilitarization Program. This account was established starting
in fiscal year 2005 to comply with section 141(b) of the fiscal
year 2003 National Defense Authorization Act.
COMMITTEE RECOMMENDATION
The Committee recommends $151,000,000 for chemical
demilitarization construction projects for fiscal year 2013, an
increase of $75,688,000 above the fiscal year 2012 enacted
level and equal to the budget request.
The Committee continues to urge the Department to take all
necessary and appropriate steps to dispose of the U.S. chemical
weapons stockpile by the 2012 Chemical Weapons Convention
deadline and, under no circumstances, later than 2017
consistent with section 8119 of Public Law 110-116. In light of
the need for the Department to carry out its mission promptly
and safely, it will need to provide close oversight over the
execution of contracts at the chemical demilitarization sites
to ensure funds are spent prudently and efficiently. The
Committee will continue to monitor closely the Department's
compliance with both deadlines.
Base Closure Account 1990
Appropriations, 2012.................................... $323,543,000
Budget estimate, 2013................................... 349,396,000
Committee recommendation................................ 349,396,000
PROGRAM DESCRIPTION
The base closure appropriation (1990) provides for cleanup
and disposal of property consistent with the four closure
rounds required by the base closure acts of 1988 and 1990.
COMMITTEE RECOMMENDATION
The Committee recommends a total of $349,396,000 for the
Base Closure Account 1990 for fiscal year 2013. This amount is
$25,853,000 above the fiscal year 2012 enacted level and equal
to the budget request.
BASE CLOSURE ACCOUNT 1990 ENVIRONMENTAL OVERVIEW
From fiscal year 1990 through fiscal year 2012, a total of
$25,654,383,000 has been appropriated for the environmental
cleanup of military installations closed or realigned under
prior BRAC rounds. The cumulative amount appropriated for BRAC
1990, combined with the Committee recommendation for fiscal
year 2013, is $26,003,779,000.
In appropriating these funds, the Committee continues to
provide the Department with broad flexibility to allocate funds
by service, function, and installation. The following table
displays the total amount appropriated for each round of prior
base closures, including amounts recommended for fiscal year
2013 for BRAC 1990.
BASE CLOSURE ACCOUNT 1990
[Total funding, fiscal year 1990 through fiscal year 2013]
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Fiscal year
--------------------------------------
1990-2011 2013 Committee Total
2012 enacted recommendation
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Part I.............................. $2,684,577,000 (\1\) (\1\) $2,684,577,000
Part II............................. 4,915,636,000 (\1\) (\1\) 4,915,636,000
Part III............................ 7,269,267,000 (\1\) (\1\) 7,269,267,000
Part IV............................. 10,461,360,000 $323,543,000 $349,396,000 11,134,299,000
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Total......................... 25,330,840,000 323,543,000 349,396,000 26,003,779,000
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
\1\Not applicable.
Base Closure Account 2005
Appropriations, 2012.................................... $258,776,000
Budget estimate, 2013................................... 126,697,000
Committee recommendation................................ 126,697,000
PROGRAM DESCRIPTION
The base realignment and closure appropriation for 2005
provides for cleanup and disposal of property consistent with
the 2005 closure round required by the Defense Base Closure and
Realignment Act of 1990 (10 U.S.C. 2687 note).
COMMITTEE RECOMMENDATION
The Committee recommends a total of $126,697,000 for the
Department of Defense Base Closure Account 2005 for fiscal year
2013. This amount is $132,079,000 below the fiscal year 2012
enacted level and equal to the budget request. Funds provided
for fiscal year 2013 are for environmental cleanup and ongoing
operations and maintenance.
Administrative Provisions
Sec. 101. The Committee includes a provision that restricts
payments under a cost-plus-a-fixed-fee contract for work,
except in cases of contracts for environmental restoration at
base closure sites.
Sec. 102. The Committee includes a provision that permits
use of funds for hire of passenger motor vehicles.
Sec. 103. The Committee includes a provision that permits
use of funds for defense access roads.
Sec. 104. The Committee includes a provision that prohibits
construction of new bases inside the continental United States
for which specific appropriations have not been made.
Sec. 105. The Committee includes a provision that limits
the use of funds for purchase of land or land easements.
Sec. 106. The Committee includes a provision that prohibits
the use of funds to acquire land, prepare a site, or install
utilities for any family housing except housing for which funds
have been made available.
Sec. 107. The Committee includes a provision that limits
the use of minor construction funds to transfer or relocate
activities among installations.
Sec. 108. The Committee includes a provision that prohibits
the procurement of steel unless American producers,
fabricators, and manufacturers have been allowed to compete.
Sec. 109. The Committee includes a provision that prohibits
payments of real property taxes in foreign nations.
Sec. 110. The Committee includes a provision that prohibits
construction of new bases overseas without prior notification.
Sec. 111. The Committee includes a provision that
establishes a threshold for American preference of $500,000
relating to architect and engineering services for overseas
projects.
Sec. 112. The Committee includes a provision that
establishes preference for American contractors for military
construction in the United States territories and possessions
in the Pacific, and on Kwajalein Atoll, or in countries
bordering the Arabian Sea.
Sec. 113. The Committee includes a provision that requires
notification of military exercises involving construction in
excess of $100,000.
Sec. 114. The Committee includes a provision that limits
obligations during the last 2 months of the fiscal year.
Sec. 115. The Committee includes a provision that permits
funds appropriated in prior years to be available for
construction authorized during the current session of Congress.
Sec. 116. The Committee includes a provision that permits
the use of expired or lapsed funds to pay the cost of
supervision for any project being completed with lapsed funds.
Sec. 117. The Committee includes a provision that permits
obligation of funds from more than 1 fiscal year to execute a
construction project, provided that the total obligation for
such project is consistent with the total amount appropriated
for the project.
Sec. 118. The Committee includes a provision that allows
transfer of proceeds from earlier base closure accounts to the
continuing base closure account (1990, parts I-IV).
Sec. 119. The Committee includes a provision that permits
the transfer of funds from Family Housing Construction accounts
to the DOD Family Housing Improvement Fund and from Military
Construction accounts to the DOD Military Unaccompanied Housing
Improvement Fund.
Sec. 120. The Committee includes a provision that provides
transfer authority to the Homeowners Assistance Fund.
Sec. 121. The Committee includes a provision that requires
that all acts making appropriations for military construction
be the sole funding source of all operation and maintenance for
family housing, including flag and general officer quarters,
and limits the repair on flag and general officer quarters to
$35,000 per unit per year without prior notification to the
congressional defense committees.
Sec. 122. The Committee includes a provision that provides
authority to expend funds from the ``Ford Island Improvement''
account.
Sec. 123. The Committee includes a provision that prohibits
the expenditure of funds at installations or for projects no
longer necessary as a result of BRAC 2005.
Sec. 124. The Committee includes a provision that allows
the transfer of expired funds to the Foreign Currency
Fluctuation, Construction, Defense Account.
Sec. 125. The Committee includes a provision that allows
the reprogramming of military construction and family housing
construction funds among projects and activities within the
account in which they are funded.
Sec. 126. The Committee includes a provision that prohibits
the obligation or expenditure of funds under this title for
planning and design and construction projects at Arlington
National Cemetery.
TITLE II
DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS
Items of Special Interest
HEARINGS
The Subcommittee on Military Construction and Veterans
Affairs, and Related Agencies held one hearing related to the
fiscal year 2013 Department of Veterans Affairs [VA] budget
request on March 15, 2012. The subcommittee heard testimony
from the Honorable Eric Shinseki, Secretary of the Department
of Veterans Affairs.
SUMMARY OF COMMITTEE RECOMMENDATIONS
The Committee recommendation includes $135,636,648,000 for
the Department of Veterans Affairs for fiscal year 2013,
including $74,638,167,000 in mandatory spending and
$60,998,481,000 in discretionary spending. The Committee also
recommends $54,462,000,000 in advance appropriations for
veterans medical care for fiscal year 2014.
DEPARTMENT OVERVIEW
The Veterans Administration was established on July 21,
1930, as an independent agency by Executive Order 5398, in
accordance with the Act of July 3, 1930 (46 Stat. 1016). This
act authorized the President to consolidate and coordinate
Federal agencies specially created for or concerned with the
administration of laws providing benefits to veterans,
including the Veterans' Bureau, the Bureau of Pensions, and the
National Home for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers. On March 15,
1989, the Veterans Administration was elevated to Cabinet-level
status as the Department of Veterans Affairs.
The VA's mission is to serve America's veterans and their
families as their principal advocate in ensuring they receive
the care, support, and recognition they have earned in service
to the Nation. As of September 30, 2011, there were an
estimated 22.2 million living veterans, with 22.1 million of
them residing in the United States and Puerto Rico. There were
an estimated 34 million dependents (spouses and dependent
children) of living veterans in the United States and Puerto
Rico, and there were 540,000 survivors of deceased veterans
receiving VA survivor benefits in the United States and Puerto
Rico. Thus, more than 56.6 million people, or 18 percent of the
total estimated resident population of the United States and
Puerto Rico, were recipients or potential recipients of
veterans benefits from the Federal Government. The VA's
operating units include the Veterans Benefits Administration,
Veterans Health Administration, National Cemetery
Administration, and staff support offices.
The Veterans Benefits Administration [VBA] provides an
integrated program of nonmedical veterans benefits. The VBA
administers a broad range of benefits to veterans and other
eligible beneficiaries through 57 regional offices and a
records processing center in St. Louis, Missouri. The benefits
provided include: compensation for service-connected
disabilities; pensions for wartime, needy, and totally disabled
veterans; vocational rehabilitation assistance; educational and
training assistance; home buying assistance; estate protection
services for veterans under legal disability; information and
assistance through personalized contacts; and six life
insurance programs.
The Veterans Health Administration [VHA] develops,
maintains, and operates a national healthcare delivery system
for eligible veterans; carries out a program of education and
training of healthcare personnel; conducts medical research and
development; and furnishes health services to members of the
Armed Forces during periods of war or national emergency. A
system of 153 hospitals, 1,102 outpatient clinics and Vet
Centers, 133 nursing homes, and 107 VA residential
rehabilitation treatment programs is maintained to meet the
VA's medical mission.
The National Cemetery Administration [NCA] provides for the
interment of the remains of eligible deceased servicemembers
and discharged veterans in any national cemetery with available
grave space; permanently maintains these graves; provides
headstones and markers for the graves of eligible persons in
national and private cemeteries; administers the grant program
for aid to States in establishing, expanding, or improving
State veterans cemeteries; and provides certificates to
families of deceased veterans recognizing their contributions
and service to the Nation. The National Cemetery Administration
operates 131 national cemeteries and 33 soldiers' lots and
monument sites.
Staff support offices include the Office of Inspector
General, Boards of Contract Appeals and Veterans Appeals, and
General Administration offices, which support the Secretary,
Deputy Secretary, Under Secretary for Benefits, Under Secretary
for Health, Under Secretary for Memorial Affairs, and General
Counsel.
Budget Justifications.--Congressional budget justifications
are developed each year by the Department to provide a more
detailed explanation and supplemental information on the budget
submission for a given fiscal year. The Committee utilizes this
information to effectively and efficiently evaluate resource
requirements and proposals requested by the administration. The
Committee is concerned the justifications continue to lack
specificity and the degree of detail needed to ensure informed
and timely evaluation of requested funds and proper oversight
of a Department the size of the VA. The Committee has included
specific directions in the appropriate place within this report
outlining the type of details future justifications should
include.
Multiple and Uncoordinated Veteran Employment Web Sites.--
In 2011, the unemployment rate among Operation Iraqi Freedom,
Operation Enduring Freedom, and Operation New Dawn veterans was
12 percent, four points higher than the average civilian
unemployment rate. The unemployment rate of male veterans
between ages 18-24 was 29 percent, almost double that of their
civilian peers. There are currently over 847,000 unemployed
veterans. While these numbers are declining, they remain
staggering. Multiple Government agencies, including the
Department of Veterans Affairs, Department of Defense, and
Department of Labor possess resources aimed at enhancing
veterans' transition into the civilian workforce.
The Committee is concerned about multiple and uncoordinated
job Web sites across the Government as well as the absence of a
single coordinating actor or agency for leading this effort.
The Committee recommends the establishment of a single,
coordinated portal that serves as a one-stop shop for veterans'
job opportunities. This Web site should leverage existing
technology developed by the private sector and Government
agencies, be interoperable with existing private sector job
resources, and provide servicemembers and veterans with skill
and military occupational specialty translation services.
The Committee directs the VA to submit to the Committees on
Appropriations of both Houses of Congress, within 90 days of
enactment of this act, a report outlining the feasibility and
cost of developing and deploying a single Web site to serve as
a central portal for military servicemembers and veterans'
employment. This report should also identify all Government-
owned and operated or Government-owned and contractor-operated
job listing Web sites. The report should assess the potential
cost savings for eliminating duplicative veterans' employment
Web sites across the Federal Government, including any within
the Department of Labor, Department of Defense, Office of
Personnel Management, and any other Federal agencies.
Military and Civilian Skills Translation.--Currently, most
servicemembers do not transition to civilian life with
certifications for the job functions they completed in the
military. The Department of Defense has traditionally viewed
this as a retention issue, but in the face of looming force
reductions, this is an immediate problem. The VOW to Hire
Heroes Act took the first step in addressing this shortfall by
requiring the Department of Veterans Affairs, in partnership
with the Department of Defense and Department of Labor, to
examine the issue.
The Committee strongly urges the Department of Veterans
Affairs to accelerate these efforts and ensure that as
servicemembers separate, they possess either the credentials or
precertification exam credit for the job functions for which
they are qualified.
Veterans Benefits Administration
Appropriations, 2012.................................... $63,921,095,000
Budget estimate, 2013................................... 74,797,435,000
Committee recommendation................................ 74,797,435,000
ADMINISTRATION OVERVIEW
The Veterans Benefits Administration [VBA] is responsible
for the payment of compensation and pension benefits to
eligible service-connected disabled veterans, as well as
education benefits and housing loan guarantees.
COMMITTEE RECOMMENDATION
The Committee recommends $74,797,435,000 for the Veterans
Benefits Administration. This amount is composed of
$61,741,232,000 for Compensation and pensions; $12,607,476,000
for Readjustment benefits; $104,600,000 for Veterans insurance
and indemnities; $184,859,000 for the Veterans housing benefit
program fund, with $157,814,000 for administrative expenses;
$19,000 for the Vocational rehabilitation loans program
account, with $346,000 for administrative expenses; and
$1,089,000 for the Native American veteran housing loan program
account.
COMPENSATION AND PENSIONS
(INCLUDING TRANSFER OF FUNDS)
Appropriations, 2012.................................... $51,237,567,000
Budget estimate, 2013................................... 61,741,232,000
Committee recommendation................................ 61,741,232,000
PROGRAM DESCRIPTION
Compensation is payable to living veterans who have
suffered impairment of earning power from service-connected
disabilities. The amount of compensation is based upon the
impact of disabilities on a veteran's earning capacity. Death
compensation or dependency and indemnity compensation is
payable to the surviving spouses and dependents of veterans
whose deaths occur while on active duty or result from service-
connected disabilities. A clothing allowance may also be
provided for service-connected veterans who use a prosthetic or
orthopedic device. In fiscal year 2013, the Department
estimates it will obligate $59,591,390,000 for payments to
3,626,468 veterans, 356,796 survivors, and 1,151 dependents
receiving special benefits.
Pensions are an income security benefit payable to needy
wartime veterans who are precluded from gainful employment due
to nonservice-connected disabilities which render them
permanently and totally disabled. Public Law 107-103, the
Veterans Education and Benefits Expansion Act of 2001, restored
the automatic presumption of permanent and total nonservice
connected disability for purposes of awarding a pension to
veterans age 65 and older, subject to the income limitations
that apply to all pensioners. Death pensions are payable to
needy surviving spouses and children of deceased wartime
veterans. The rate payable for both disability and death
pensions is determined on the basis of the annual income of the
veteran or their survivors. In fiscal year 2013, the Department
estimates that the Pensions program will provide benefits to
314,154 veterans and 205,797 survivors totaling $4,931,133,000.
The Compensation and Pensions program funds certain burial
benefits on behalf of eligible deceased veterans. These
benefits provide the purchase and transportation costs for
headstones and markers, graveliners, and pre-placed crypts; and
provides partial reimbursement for privately purchased outer
burial receptacles. In fiscal year 2013, the Department
estimates the Compensation and Pensions program will obligate
$220,871,000 providing burial benefits. This funding will
provide 47,605 burial allowances, 34,254 burial plot
allowances, 17,680 service-connected death awards, 500,002
burial flags, 350,027 headstones or markers, and 91,314
graveliners or reimbursement for privately purchased outer
burial receptacles.
COMMITTEE RECOMMENDATION
The Committee recommends $61,741,232,000 for Compensation
and pensions. This is an increase of $10,503,665,000 above the
fiscal year 2012 enacted level and equal to the budget request.
In addition to the amounts provided to the VBA's Compensation
and pensions account, the Department estimates it will carry
forward into fiscal year 2013 $3,002,162,000 in unobligated
balances. The Committee recommendation together with the
anticipated unobligated balances will provide total resources
of $64,743,394,000 for Compensation and pensions.
The appropriation includes $9,204,000 in payments to the
General operating expenses, veterans benefits administration;
Medical support and compliance; and Information technology
systems accounts for expenses related to implementing
provisions of the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1990,
the Veterans' Benefits Act of 1992, the Veterans' Benefits
Improvements Act of 1994, and the Veterans' Benefits
Improvements Act of 1996.
READJUSTMENT BENEFITS
Appropriations, 2012.................................... $12,108,488,000
Budget estimate, 2013................................... 12,607,476,000
Committee recommendation................................ 12,607,476,000
PROGRAM DESCRIPTION
The Readjustment benefits appropriation finances the
education and training of veterans and servicemembers under
chapters 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 39, 41, 42 and 43 of
title 38, United States Code. These benefits include the All-
Volunteer Force Educational Assistance Program (Montgomery GI
bill) and the Post 9/11 Educational Assistance Program. Basic
benefits are funded through appropriations made to the
readjustment benefits appropriation and by transfers from the
Department of Defense. This account also finances vocational
rehabilitation, specially adapted housing grants, specially
adapted automobile grants for certain disabled veterans, and
educational assistance allowances for eligible dependents of
those veterans who died from service-connected causes or who
have a total permanent service-connected disability, as well as
dependents of servicemembers who were captured or missing in
action.
COMMITTEE RECOMMENDATION
The Committee recommends $12,607,476,000 for Readjustment
benefits. This is an increase of $498,988,000 above the fiscal
year 2012 enacted level and equal to the budget request.
Veterans Retraining Assistance Program.--The Committee
recommendation for Readjustment benefits includes full funding
for the Veterans Retraining Assistance Program [VRAP]. VRAP, a
joint effort between the Department of Veterans Affairs and the
Department of Labor, was established in title II of Public Law
112-56, the VOW to Hire Heroes Act of 2011. Beginning on July
1, 2012, VRAP will provide up to 12 months of retraining
assistance to veterans who are unemployed and received anything
other than a dishonorable discharge. Veterans must be at least
35 years of age, but not more than 60 years of age and have no
eligibility remaining for other education benefits. Veterans
participating in this program will receive monthly payments
equal to the 3-year payment rate under the Montgomery GI Bill
(currently $1,473 per month). VA estimates it will obligate
$1,100,662,000 in fiscal year 2013 on the VRAP program.
Education Counseling Services.--The Committee is concerned
that a majority of veterans receiving education benefits
provided by the Department are not requesting education
counseling services available to them pursuant to section 3697A
of title 38. The Committee directs the Department to perform
outreach activities to better inform veterans about this
benefit in order to achieve higher rates of utilization. In
addition, the Committee directs the Secretary to submit a
report to the Committees on Appropriations of both Houses of
Congress no later than 90 days after enactment of this act
detailing the Department's education counseling services
provided to veterans pursuant to section 3697A of title 38.
This report should include: (1) the number of veterans
requesting this counseling in fiscal years 2010, 2011 and 2012;
(2) the specific information that is provided to veterans in a
counseling session including any data provided on educational
institutions; and (3) an outreach plan to better inform
veterans about the availability of education counseling.
VETERANS INSURANCE AND INDEMNITIES
Appropriations, 2012.................................... $100,252,000
Budget estimate, 2013................................... 104,600,000
Committee recommendation................................ 104,600,000
PROGRAM DESCRIPTION
The Veterans insurance and indemnities appropriation
consists of the former appropriations for military and naval
insurance, applicable to World War I veterans; National Service
Life Insurance, applicable to certain World War II veterans;
servicemen's indemnities, applicable to Korean conflict
veterans; and veterans mortgage life insurance to individuals
who have received a grant for specially adapted housing.
COMMITTEE RECOMMENDATION
The Committee recommends $104,600,000 for Veterans
insurance and indemnities. This is an increase of $4,348,000
above the fiscal year 2012 enacted level and equal to the
budget request. The Department estimates there will be
7,028,751 policies in force in fiscal year 2013 with a value of
$1,350,990,000,000.
VETERANS HOUSING BENEFIT PROGRAM FUND
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Administrative
Program account expenses
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Appropriations, 2012................ $318,612,000 $154,698,000
Budget estimate, 2013............... 184,859,000 157,814,000
Committee recommendation............ 184,859,000 157,814,000
------------------------------------------------------------------------
PROGRAM DESCRIPTION
The Veterans housing benefit program fund provides for all
costs associated with the VA's direct and guaranteed housing
loan programs, with the exception of the Native American
veteran housing loan program.
VA loan guaranties are made to servicemembers, veterans,
reservists, and unremarried surviving spouses for the purchase
of homes, condominiums, and manufactured homes, and for
refinancing loans. VA guarantees part of the total loan,
permitting the purchaser to obtain a mortgage with a
competitive interest rate, even without a downpayment, if the
lender agrees. The VA requires that a downpayment be made for a
manufactured home. With a VA guaranty, the lender is protected
against loss up to the amount of the guaranty if the borrower
fails to repay the loan.
COMMITTEE RECOMMENDATION
The Committee recommends such sums as may be necessary for
funding subsidy payments, estimated to total $184,859,000; and
$157,814,000 for administrative expenses for fiscal year 2013.
Bill language limits gross obligations for direct loans for
specially adapted housing to $500,000.
VOCATIONAL REHABILITATION LOANS PROGRAM ACCOUNT
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Administrative
Program account expenses
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Appropriations, 2012................ $19,000 $343,000
Budget estimate, 2013............... 19,000 346,000
Committee recommendation............ 19,000 346,000
------------------------------------------------------------------------
PROGRAM DESCRIPTION
The Vocational rehabilitation loans program account covers
the cost of direct loans for vocational rehabilitation of
eligible veterans and, in addition, includes administrative
expenses necessary to carry out the direct loan program. Loans
of up to $1,108 (based on the indexed chapter 31 subsistence
allowance rate) are currently available to service-connected
disabled veterans enrolled in vocational rehabilitation
programs, as provided under 38 U.S.C. chapter 31, when the
veteran is temporarily in need of additional assistance.
Repayment is made in 10 monthly installments, without interest,
through deductions from future payments of compensation,
pension, subsistence allowance, educational assistance
allowance, or retirement pay. Virtually all loans are repaid in
full and most in less than 1 year.
COMMITTEE RECOMMENDATION
The Committee recommends $19,000 for program costs and
$346,000 for administrative expenses for the Vocational
rehabilitation loans program account. The administrative
expenses may be paid to the General operating expenses,
veterans benefits administration account. Bill language is
included limiting program direct loans to $2,729,000. It is
estimated that the VA will make 2,857 loans in fiscal year
2013, with an average amount of $955.
NATIVE AMERICAN VETERAN HOUSING LOAN PROGRAM ACCOUNT
Appropriations, 2012.................................... $1,116,000
Budget estimate, 2013................................... 1,089,000
Committee recommendation................................ 1,089,000
PROGRAM DESCRIPTION
The Native American veteran housing loan program is
authorized by 38 U.S.C. chapter 37, section 3761 to provide
direct loans to Native American veterans living on trust lands.
The loans are available to purchase, construct, or improve
homes to be occupied as veteran residences, or to refinance a
loan previously made under this program in order to lower the
interest rate. The potential maximum loan amount under this
authority ranges from $417,000 in standard areas up to $625,500
in high-cost areas. Veterans pay a funding fee of 1.25 percent
of the loan amount, although veterans with a service-connected
disability are exempt from paying the fee. Before a direct loan
can be made, the veteran's tribal organization must sign a
memorandum of understanding with the VA regarding the terms and
conditions of the loan. The Native American Veteran Housing
Loan Program began as a pilot program in 1993 and was made
permanent by Public Law 109-233, the Veterans Housing
Opportunity and Benefits Act of 2006.
COMMITTEE RECOMMENDATION
The Committee recommends $1,089,000 for administrative
expenses associated with this program. This is $27,000 below
the fiscal year 2012 enacted level and equal to the budget
request.
Veterans Health Administration
Appropriations, 2012.................................... $51,191,985,000
Advance appropriations, 2013............................ 52,541,000,000
Budget estimate, 2013................................... 747,674,000
Committee recommendation, 2013.......................... 737,674,000
Budget estimate, advance appropriation, 2014............ 54,462,000,000
Committee recommendation, advance appropriation, 2014... 54,462,000,000
ADMINISTRATION OVERVIEW
The Veterans Health Administration [VHA] operates the
largest Federal medical care delivery system in the country,
with 153 hospitals, 1,102 outpatient clinics and Vet Centers,
133 nursing homes, and 107 VA residential rehabilitation
treatment programs.
The Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Care Collections
Fund [MCCF] was established by the Balanced Budget Act of 1997
(Public Law 105-33). In fiscal year 2004, Public Law 108-199
allowed the Department to deposit first-party and
pharmaceutical co-payments; third-party insurance payments and
enhanced-use collections; long-term care co-payments;
Compensated Work Therapy Program collections; Compensation and
Pension Living Expenses Program collections; and Parking
Program fees into the MCCF.
The Parking Program provides funds for the construction,
alteration, and acquisition (by purchase or lease) of parking
garages at VA medical facilities authorized by 38 U.S.C. 8109.
The Secretary is required under certain circumstances to
establish and collect fees for the use of such garages and
parking facilities. Receipts from the parking fees are to be
deposited into the MCCF and are used for medical services
activities.
COMMITTEE RECOMMENDATION
In fiscal year 2012, the Committee provided $52,541,000,000
in advance appropriations for the VA's medical care accounts
for fiscal year 2013. This included $41,354,000,000 for Medical
services; $5,746,000,000 for Medical support and compliance;
and $5,441,000,000 for Medical facilities. For fiscal year
2013, the Committee recommends an additional $155,000,000 for
Medical services. Additionally, the Committee recommendation
includes $582,674,000 for Medical and prosthetic research.
Medical care collections are expected to be $2,527,000,000. The
recommendation also includes an advance appropriation of
$54,462,000,000 for veterans medical care for fiscal year 2014.
Advance Appropriations Budgeting.--The Committee remains
supportive of providing advance appropriations for the three
veterans medical care accounts. The intent of advance
appropriations is to provide timely and predictable funding for
veterans medical care and provide hospitals in the field
certainty as clinical hiring decisions are made. The medical
care budget is formed primarily by an actuarial analysis which
factors in numerous data points including current and projected
veteran population, enrollment projections, and case mix
changes associated with current veteran patients. Due to the
fact that medical care funding is provided a year in advance
and that healthcare is dynamic in nature, the Department
updates the actuarial model after the advance is provided, thus
enabling the Department to make necessary changes in the
following budget submission. The Committee appreciates this
process and understands that the intention is to provide a
clearer picture of medical needs. However, in the future, the
Department must do a better job providing more detailed
explanations within its justifications so that the Committee
has an accurate and full view of how funding requests were
determined. At a minimum, these explanations should include
what data has been modified for the updated actuarial and how
these changes have either produced savings or increased
resource requirements. Additionally, the Department is directed
to include in its budget justifications actual operational
savings achieved in the previous 2 fiscal years so that a
comparison can be made between actual and estimated savings.
AREAS OF INTEREST
VA Nursing Academy.--The Committee commends the VA for
addressing the nursing shortage through the Veterans Affairs
Nursing Academy. This pilot program established partnerships
with competitively selected nursing schools to expand the
number of teaching faculty in VA facilities and affiliated
nursing schools in order to increase student enrollment in
baccalaureate nursing programs. The Committee notes the VA's
realization of a net-positive value for the pilot overall and
urges the VA to continue its collaboration with the Department
of Defense through the Uniformed Services University of the
Health Services [USUHS] by providing nurse faculty and nursing
students in the graduate nursing education programs through the
external evaluation period.
Advanced Nursing Education.--The Committee urges the VA, in
conjunction with accredited schools of nursing, to explore the
development of a fast-track doctoral training program which
would facilitate completion of a doctorate in nursing by
qualified nurses employed within the VA network who possess a
bachelor of science in nursing.
Licensing Requirements at DOD/VA Collocated Facilities.--In
fiscal year 2012, the Committee directed the Department of
Veterans Affairs and the Department of Defense to examine ways
in which duplicative licensing requirements at collocated
medical facilities might be eliminated. The findings of this
examination were required to be reported to the Committees on
Appropriations of both Houses of Congress. The Committee
reiterates the expectation and importance that the VA submit
this report. Upon receipt of the report, the Department is
directed to provide regular reports on progress made in
implementing any recommendations to streamline duplicative
licensing requirements.
Women Veterans.--The percentage of women veterans is
expected to rise significantly over the next 2 decades. As
these female veterans enter the VA system, there is an urgent
need for the Department to adapt older facilities to meet these
changing demographics. The Committee urges VA to continue to
upgrade facilities to address the needs of women veterans and
veterans with children.
Office of Health Information/Office of Informatics and
Analytics.--It is incumbent upon the Department to continually
look for ways to streamline and improve upon its operations,
ensuring that taxpayer money is used to veterans' greatest
benefits. The Committee understands that the Department is
undertaking a review of the Office of Health Information [OHI]
and the Office of Informatics and Analytics [OIA]. If the
review identifies duplication of functions with other offices
within the Department, the Secretary should make modifications,
as necessary, to eliminate such duplication. The Committee
further directs that savings realized from any increased
efficiencies resulting from realignment of functions of OHI and
OIA be reprogrammed to critical needs in direct patient care,
or to other areas of need as identified in the report. No later
than October 1, 2012, the Department is directed to provide to
the Committees on Appropriations of both Houses of Congress a
report detailing the findings of this review, any savings
realized, and how those savings were reprogrammed.
Prosthetics.--The VA supports a wide array of research in
engineering and technology to improve the lives of veterans
with disabilities, and it has long been a leader in the
development of new prosthetic technologies. The Committee notes
the diligence with which the VA works to align the prosthetics
research portfolio with the needs of the veteran community to
ensure new and innovative products are available to veterans.
The Committee is particularly interested in understanding the
full spectrum of prosthetic research programs and projects,
including research on ``mechanical prosthetics,'' to replace an
amputated limb, to ``neural prostheses,'' which deliver small
amounts of electrical stimulation to the nervous system. The
Committee directs the Department to report to the Committees on
Appropriations of both Houses of Congress by January 6, 2013,
on all ongoing prosthetic programs and projects including, but
not limited to, mechanical prosthetics and neural prostheses.
The report should include information pertaining to the
prosthetic needs of the veteran community and how ongoing
research is contributing to the health and wellbeing of
disabled veterans.
Battery Life Testing.--According to the VA, the Department
does not consider service life comparisons in its evaluation
criteria for battery purchases. The Committee is concerned that
the VA may be spending more than necessary for batteries due to
increased replacement costs. According to a May 2012 VA report
to Congress on Life-Cycle Costs in VA Purchasing, the VA
believes that ``evaluation of life-cycle cost associated with
low-cost, readily available commercial items would not be
appropriate when competing vendors are bidding firm fixed
prices for `brand name or equal' products.''
Without test results, the VA has no way to know whether
commercially available batteries have equivalent life-cycle
costs. The Committee understands that the VA has recently
issued a Request for Information on third-party capacity
testing for zinc air batteries (VA79112I0031). These tests
results should enable the VA to make more informed purchasing
decisions. Therefore, the Committee directs the VA to submit a
report to the Committees on Appropriations of both Houses of
Congress no later than December 31, 2012, which includes the
results of capacity tests by a third-party entity measuring
service life for each type of battery purchased by the VA, and
a comparison of batteries currently purchased by the VA with
alternatives in the commercial market for the same type of
battery. For each type of battery tested, this report should
also include the quantity purchased by the VA in the most
recently completed fiscal year and the unit price paid per
battery.
MEDICAL SERVICES
(INCLUDING TRANSFER OF FUNDS)
Appropriations, 2012.................................... $39,649,985,000
Advance appropriations, 2013............................ 41,354,000,000
Budget estimate, 2013................................... 165,000,000
Committee recommendation, 2013.......................... 155,000,000
Budget estimate, advance appropriation, 2014............ 43,557,000,000
Committee recommendation, advance appropriation, 2014... 43,557,000,000
PROGRAM DESCRIPTION
The Medical services account provides for medical services
of enrolled eligible veterans and certain dependent
beneficiaries in VA medical centers, VA outpatient clinics,
contract hospitals, State homes, and outpatient programs on a
fee basis. Hospital and outpatient care is also provided by the
private sector for certain dependents and survivors of veterans
under the civilian health and medical programs for the VA.
COMMITTEE RECOMMENDATION
In fiscal year 2012, the Committee provided an advance
appropriation of $41,354,000,000 for fiscal year 2013. The
recommendation for fiscal year 2013 includes an additional
$155,000,000 instead of $165,000,000 requested by the
administration for the Medical services account. The additional
funds provided will allow the VA to continue essential
initiatives, assist in offsetting a projected decline in
revenues, and provide additional resources for the Department
to hire additional mental health providers. In addition, the VA
has the authority to retain co-payments and third-party
collections, estimated to total $2,527,000,000 in fiscal year
2013.
The Committee recommendation also includes an advance
appropriation of $43,557,000,000 for medical services for
fiscal year 2014. This is $2,048,000,000 above the level for
fiscal year 2013 and equal to the fiscal year 2014 budget
request.
The fiscal year 2013 appropriation includes $6,184,098,000
for mental healthcare; $72,812,000 for suicide prevention;
$3,279,147 to provide medical care to Afghanistan and Iraq war
veterans; $222,000,000 for readjustment counseling services at
Vet Centers; $2,586,000,000 for prosthetics; and $1,351,851,000
for specific homeless veterans programs.
Homeless Veterans.--The Committee commends the Department
of Veterans Affairs on its continued efforts to both prevent
and end homelessness among the veteran population. However, the
Committee is concerned about the substantial number of wounded
veterans suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder and
traumatic brain injury who are at high risk for becoming
homeless. The need for innovative, cost-effective strategies to
prevent these particularly vulnerable veterans from becoming
homeless is significant. Engaging older veterans to provide
mentoring and social support in a residential setting for
wounded veterans at risk of homelessness has potential as a
preventive strategy that can also increase the efficiency of VA
healthcare services while reducing demand and associated costs
for both disabled and nondisabled veterans. The Committee
strongly encourages the Department to work with community-based
and intermediary organizations to develop pilot programs that
will utilize such an intergenerational approach.
Rural Healthcare.--According to the Department of Veterans
Affairs, veterans living in rural or highly rural areas account
for 41 percent of all veterans enrolled in the VA system.
Moreover, a disproportionately large number of Iraq and
Afghanistan war veterans are from rural areas, many returning
home with complicated physical and mental health conditions
that require specialized or chronic healthcare not readily
available in rural areas. As a result of these evolving
demographics, the VA has ramped up its efforts to improve
access and quality of care to rural veterans. The Committee
welcomes this focus on rural veterans, and fully supports the
$250,000,000 for rural healthcare in the fiscal year 2013
budget request.
However, the Committee recognizes that the demand for VA
services in rural areas will only increase and believes that
the VA must do more to plan for and provide quality healthcare
to veterans living in rural and highly rural areas. Travel
barriers, including long distances to VA medical facilities and
lack of public transportation, make it difficult for the VA to
serve rural veterans. Also, lack of specialized care in rural
areas, including mental healthcare, make it difficult for
veterans to obtain quality care at home.
The VA is working to address these problems through a
number of initiatives, including expanding the use and variety
of telemedicine techniques, such as video consultations with
practitioners, telephone healthcare monitoring and management,
and audio-visual telemedicine diagnostic techniques. The
Committee encourages the VA to pursue leading-edge telemedicine
technology and innovative rural health demonstration projects,
and to incorporate promising advances into its rural health
delivery system.
The Committee recognizes the ongoing challenges of the
Department of Veterans Affairs to recruit and retain highly
qualified healthcare professionals, particularly mental health
professionals, in rural areas. Further, the Committee believes
that subsequent staffing shortages ultimately lead to higher
out-of-pocket costs for veterans as well as decreased quality
of care. To address these issues, the Committee directs the
Veterans Health Administration to more thoroughly and
aggressively evaluate and deploy innovative approaches to
recruiting and retaining quality physicians, surgeons, mental
health professionals, and other healthcare professionals in
rural areas. These potential approaches should include
additional flexibility for rural facilities to enhance salary
offers and to offer contract incentives to qualified
applicants. Additionally, the Committee urges the VA to
investigate the feasibility of using innovative ways to rotate
practitioners through rural areas, including Native American
reservations, such as medical ``circuit riders'', fully staffed
mobile clinics that could be deployed to rural locations on
extended schedules, and cooperative ventures using community
hospitals or clinics as platforms for providing VA healthcare
services.
Mental Health.--Access to VA's mental health services is
imperative given the number of Iraq and Afghanistan war
veterans suffering from combat related mental health problems.
The Committee remains very concerned about the ability of
veterans suffering from combat related mental health conditions
to access clinical care in a timely manner. Veterans Health
Administration policy requires all first-time patients referred
to or requesting mental health services to receive an initial
evaluation within 24 hours and a more comprehensive diagnostic
and treatment planning evaluation within 14 days. The 24-hour
evaluation is key in identifying those patients who require
immediate clinical care. On April 23, 2012, the Office of the
Inspector General [IG] issued a report that reviewed veterans'
access to mental healthcare. The report highlighted that VHA
lacks a reliable way of determining whether veterans have
timely access to mental health services. Additionally, the IG
review found that first-time patients have not uniformly been
provided timely mental health evaluations and existing patients
often waited more than 14 days past their desired date for
their appointment. The VA's Undersecretary for Health concurred
with the IG's findings and stated the VHA would act rapidly on
implementing changes that would improve access to mental
healthcare. Moreover, the Department recently announced that it
would add an additional 1,600 mental health clinicians and 300
support staff as part of an ongoing review of mental health
operations. The Committee supports this effort and directs the
VA to provide the Committees on Appropriations of both Houses
of Congress, no later than 60 days after enactment of this act,
a detailed staffing plan and timeline to add these additional
personnel.
National Center for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder.--One of
the most pressing concerns facing our country's community of
veterans is the increasing prevalence and severity of post-
traumatic stress disorder [PTSD]. Not only does PTSD continue
to adversely affect our Vietnam veterans, but a new generation
of veterans who have served in Iraq and Afghanistan are now
returning home to suffer from what some have called ``the
invisible wounds of war''. Given the immense and immediate
nature of this problem and the great strides in PTSD research
made by the VA's National Center for PTSD, last year the
Committee noted with concern the $7,363,000, or almost 33-
percent decrease, in the President's budget request for this
essential program in fiscal year 2012 as compared to the fiscal
year 2011 request. This year, the administration has requested
a minor increase of $164,000 over fiscal year 2012. In the
coming fiscal years, the Committee strongly encourages the
Department to accelerate funding for PTSD programs.
Access to Care.--Hawaii and Alaska present unique
challenges for the VA in delivering timely healthcare. For
instance, if the VA does not provide a particular healthcare
service within the VHA system, Hawaii and Alaska veterans are
often directed to fly thousands of miles to a VA hospital
within the continental United States, regardless of whether
adequate healthcare may exist within the State through a local
provider. The Committee remains concerned that the extensive
travel requirements, coupled with lengthy delays scheduling
this travel, create unusual hardships on Hawaii and Alaska
veterans. The VA has reported that it is making progress in
addressing these unique problems through the ``Care Closer to
Home Program''. The Committee encourages the VA to continue
these efforts and will continue to monitor its progress.
Therefore, no later than February 1, 2013, the Department is
directed to provide to the Committees on Appropriations of both
Houses of Congress a report on the number of Hawaii and Alaska
veterans who were directed to travel to a VA facility in
another State for medical care in fiscal year and calendar year
2012; the number of veterans who actually traveled to that
facility during the fiscal and calendar years; and the
Department's plans and goals for reducing the number of Hawaii
and Alaska veterans directed to travel to another State for
medical care in fiscal years 2013 and 2014. In addition, the
report should describe the criteria used in determining whether
to purchase medical care for a Hawaii or Alaska veteran within
their respective States or require the veteran to travel to a
VA facility in another State to receive that care; a
description of the medical conditions for which these veterans
were required to travel out of Hawaii and Alaska; and an
explanation for why care was not purchased in State.
The Committee is also concerned about the distances that
veterans have to travel within the State of Alaska to obtain VA
care. In its report on the ``Care Closer to Home Program'', the
VA is requested to provide data on the number of Alaska
veterans who have traveled by air within the State of Alaska
during fiscal year 2012 to obtain care at a VA facility, the
communities from which they traveled and the facility at which
the care was provided. The VA is requested to assess whether
this care could have been provided closer to home through
partnerships with Community Health Centers, tribal health
facilities, or other available community providers.
Veterans Affairs/Indian Health Service Collaboration.--On
March 5, 2012, the VA and the Indian Health Service [IHS] began
soliciting input from tribal leaders on a draft reimbursement
agreement between VA and IHS. The draft agreement sets forth
the underlying terms and conditions for reimbursement between
VA and IHS facilities, as well as between VA and tribal health
facilities, should tribes elect to enter into an agreement with
VA. The Committee is encouraged by these recent achievements
and commends the VA for seeking input from Native American
tribes and Alaska Natives. Many American Indian and Alaska
Native veterans live in some of the most remote places in the
country and often lack access to VA health facilities due to
sheer distance between their homes and the nearest facility.
Stronger partnerships among VA, IHS, and tribal health
facilities is essential to ensuring Native American and Alaska
Native veterans have access to the services to which they are
entitled. The Committee intends to closely monitor progress in
establishing these partnerships. Therefore, the Department is
directed to submit to the Committees on Appropriations of both
Houses of Congress no later than November 1, 2012, a report
outlining the progress made in working with IHS and tribal
health facilities to establish new partnerships and
reimbursement agreements.
End Stage Renal Disease.--The Committee is very concerned
with the growing number of cases of End Stage Renal Disease
[ESRD]. According to VA estimates for fiscal year 2011, over
27,000 veterans have ESRD. Of these veterans, approximately
16,500 received dialysis from the VA on an outpatient basis at
a VA facility or through contract care. Studies have suggested
that home-based dialysis therapies, including peritoneal
dialysis and home hemodialysis, can be less costly than in-
center hemodialysis. The Department is directed to submit to
the Committees on Appropriations of both Houses of Congress no
later than 90 days after enactment of this act, a report
outlining current utilization of home-based dialysis therapies
and what plans the VA has to expand these services across the
veterans health system.
Veteran Transportation System.--The Committee recognizes
that Public Law 111-163 took a number of meaningful steps to
enhance care for veterans. Among the provisions included in
this law is a grant program that will allow State veterans
service agencies and veterans service organizations to provide
better transportation options for rural veterans seeking care
at a Department of Veterans Affairs facility. The Committee has
concerns that further delays in the implementation of this
grant program will impede the critical services provided by the
program from reaching rural veterans in a timely manner. The
Committee urges the Department of Veterans Affairs to move
expeditiously in the enactment of this grant program, and to
make additional longer-term investments that improve
transportation options for rural veterans.
Regenerative Medicine.--Prosthetic devices currently remain
the primary rehabilitative option for servicemembers and
veterans with upper limb loss. However, the Committee
recognizes emerging regenerative medical treatments such as
upper extremity transplantation could be viable alternatives
for eligible patients. Therefore, the Committee directs the
Secretary of Veterans Affairs to provide to the Committees on
Appropriations of both Houses of Congress no later than January
18, 2013, a report detailing the efforts the Veterans Health
Administration has undertaken to facilitate the translation of
new regenerative medical procedures into preventive and
therapeutic strategies. The report should identify any critical
knowledge gaps that constrain the rapid progress and clinical
translation of novel therapies for veterans.
Further, the Committee urges the Secretary of Veterans
Affairs to consider establishing a Regenerative Medicine
Coordinator within the Department of Veterans Affairs to
develop a referral pathway that provides more veterans the
opportunity to take advantage of the advances in regenerative
medicine, including upper extremity transplantations. The
Regenerative Medicine Coordinator should coordinate with the
Department of Defense's Armed Forces Institute of Regenerative
Medicine Office and establish a set of protocols for
regenerative medicine inpatient and outpatient care.
Prescription Drugs.--The Committee has encouraged the
Department of Veterans Affairs and the Department of Defense
[DOD] to increase collaboration in areas where appropriate,
such as collocated health facilities and integrated information
technology systems. These collaborative efforts not only
improve efficiency but also can lead to significant cost
savings. The Committee believes that the two Departments should
pursue joint efforts in the purchasing of prescription drugs.
According to the Government Accountability Office [GAO], from
fiscal year 2002 through 2005, VA and DOD increased joint
procurement of brand name and generic drugs. Joint national
contracts increased from $183,000,000 on 76 contracts in 2002
to $560,000,000 on 84 contracts in fiscal year 2005. However,
the GAO found that by 2009, joint national contracts had
decreased to $214,000,000 on 67 contracts. Additionally, by
2009 all joint contracts were for generic drugs. GAO noted that
VA and DOD officials attributed the decline of joint
contracting to the elimination of joint contracting for brand
name drugs. The Committee believes that the Departments could
achieve greater cost savings by jointly procuring brand name
drugs. Therefore, VA is directed to provide to the Committees
on Appropriations of both Houses of Congress a report no later
than January 25, 2013, detailing the impediments to joint
procurement of both generic and brand name drugs, and potential
solutions to increase joint contracting.
MEDICAL SUPPORT AND COMPLIANCE
Appropriations, 2012.................................... $5,535,000,000
Advance appropriations, 2013............................ 5,746,000,000
Budget estimate, advance appropriation, 2014............ 6,033,000,000
Committee recommendation, advance appropriation, 2014... 6,033,000,000
The Medical support and compliance account provides funds
for management, security, and administrative expenses within
the VA healthcare system, in addition to providing costs
associated with the operation of VA medical centers and
clinics, VISN offices, and the VHA Central Office in
Washington, DC. This appropriation also covers Chief of Staff
and Facility Director operations, quality of care oversight,
legal services, billing and coding activities, procurement,
financial management, security, and human resource management.
The President's 2013 and 2014 submission for Medical
Support and Compliance is based on an actuarial analysis
founded on the current and projected veteran population,
enrollment projections of demand, and case mix changes
associated with current veteran patients.
COMMITTEE RECOMMENDATION
In fiscal year 2012, the Committee provided an advance
appropriation of $5,746,000,000 for fiscal year 2013 for the
Medical support and compliance account. This is $211,000,000
above the fiscal year 2012 enacted level and equal to the
budget request. Additionally, the Committee recommendation
includes an advance appropriation of $6,033,000,000 for Medical
support and compliance for fiscal year 2014, which is
$287,000,000 above the level for fiscal year 2013 and equal to
the budget request.
Budget Justification.--The Medical support and compliance
appropriation provides funds for the expenses of management,
security, and administration of the VA's healthcare system.
Included in this appropriation are the costs associated with
the management, operation, and oversight of the Veterans Health
Administration's headquarters and program offices, VISN and
medical facilities, and other support organizations and
functions. There are four major category groups funded by this
appropriation: medical center support, which receives 72
percent of the appropriation; centralized field support
functions, which receives 13 percent; VHA central office
support, which receives 12 percent; and VISN support, which
receives 3 percent. The Committee understands healthcare
systems require strong management to ensure healthcare is
provided in a timely and efficient manner. Additionally, the
Committee appreciates that most of VHA's funding decisions are
driven by an actuarial model designed to capture the best data
and provide a realistic view of funding needs in the field.
However, the justification accompanying the budget request
lacks details on how several components within Medical support
and compliance are developed. For instance, while VHA central
office and VISN staff offices play key roles in oversight,
policy guidance, and the delivery of healthcare, the
justification contains little insight on how their respective
budgets were developed. Therefore, the Committee directs the
Department to provide greater detail, including a detailed
budget build-out for these functions in future budget
submissions.
MEDICAL FACILITIES
Appropriations, 2012.................................... $5,426,000,000
Advance appropriations, 2013............................ 5,441,000,000
Budget estimate, advance appropriation, 2014............ 4,872,000,000
Committee recommendation, advance appropriation, 2014... 4,872,000,000
PROGRAM DESCRIPTION
The Medical facilities account provides funds for the
operation and maintenance of the VA healthcare system's vast
capital infrastructure. This appropriation provides for costs
associated with utilities, engineering, capital planning,
leases, laundry, groundskeeping, housekeeping, facility repair,
and property disposition and acquisition.
COMMITTEE RECOMMENDATION
In fiscal year 2012, the Committee provided an advance
appropriation of $5,441,000,000 for fiscal year 2013 for the
Medical facilities account. The Committee recommendation
includes an advance appropriation of $4,872,000,000 for Medical
facilities for fiscal year 2014. This is $569,000,000 below the
level for fiscal year 2013 and equal to the budget request.
Nonrecurring Maintenance.--In fiscal year 2014, the
Department will transfer 1,080 full-time personnel currently
budgeted for in the Medical facilities account to the Medical
services account. The advance appropriation budget request and
corresponding Committee recommendation reflects this transfer.
While this transfer accounts for a reduction of $320,000,000 in
the Medical facilities account and a respective increase in the
Medical services account, it does not fully explain the decline
in the Medical facilities account. According to the budget
justifications which accompanied the budget request, the VA
estimates the Department will spend $868,800,000 in fiscal year
2012; $710,450,000 in fiscal year 2013; and $464,660,000 in
fiscal year 2014 on critical infrastructure repairs at existing
hospitals and clinics. This is a $404,140,000 reduction in
estimated expenditures from 2012 to 2014 on reducing
infrastructure deficiencies at current VHA facilities. The
Committee notes that the VA has flexibility within the Medical
facilities account to shift money during the fiscal year as
circumstances and estimates change. For instance, the
Department's original fiscal year 2011 budget request for
nonrecurring maintenance was $1,110,129,000. However, actual
expenditures for fiscal year 2011 were $1,977,168,000. This
large variance in estimations and actual obligations reflects
the need for VA to more accurately budget for infrastructure
needs. The Committee strongly supports the nonrecurring
maintenance program and urges the Department to review the
advance appropriation for this account in the next budget cycle
to ensure that budget estimates for needed infrastructure
repairs adhere to the deficiencies outlined in the 10-year
Strategic Capital Investment Plan.
Southwest Louisiana Outpatient Clinics.--In March of 2012,
the Committee was notified that contracting errors were made in
the Solicitation for Offers to build the Community Based
Outpatient Clinics [CBOCs] in Southwest Louisiana. These
contracting errors will result in delays to the Lake Charles
CBOC opening and Lafayette CBOC expansion. The Department is
directed to provide the Committee on Appropriations regular
updates on the progress being made to correct the contracting
errors in order to move forward to complete the clinics in
Lafayette and Lake Charles, Louisiana.
MEDICAL AND PROSTHETIC RESEARCH
Appropriations, 2012.................................... $581,000,000
Budget estimate, 2013................................... 582,674,000
Committee recommendation................................ 582,674,000
PROGRAM DESCRIPTION
The Medical and prosthetic research account provides funds
for medical, rehabilitative, and health services research.
Medical research supports basic and clinical studies that
advance knowledge leading to improvements in the prevention,
diagnosis, and treatment of diseases and disabilities.
Rehabilitation research focuses on rehabilitation engineering
problems in the fields of prosthetics, orthotics, adaptive
equipment for vehicles, sensory aids and related areas. Health
services research focuses on improving the effectiveness and
economy of the delivery of health services.
COMMITTEE RECOMMENDATION
The Committee recommends $582,674,000 for Medical and
prosthetic research. This is $1,674,000 above the fiscal year
2012 enacted level and equal to the budget request.
The Committee remains highly supportive of this program,
and recognizes its importance both in improving healthcare
services to veterans and recruiting and retaining high-quality
medical professionals in the Veterans Health Administration.
Through the Department's research and development program,
the VA has implemented a comprehensive research agenda to
develop new treatments and tools for clinicians to ease the
physical and psychological pain of men and women returning from
war zones, to improve access to VA healthcare services, and to
accelerate discoveries and applications, especially for
neurotrauma, sensory loss, amputation, polytrauma, and related
prosthetic needs.
Nursing Research Program.--The Committee supports the
Veterans Affairs Nursing Research Program, which facilitates
research on the specific nursing needs of combat veterans and
aging veterans. The Committee strongly supports continuation of
this program. The Committee also encourages collaboration
between VA nurses and recipients of Tri-Service Nursing
Research Program awards in the exploration of research
proposals that improve the health and well-being of their
shared beneficiary population.
Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease.--The Committee is
concerned by the incidence of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary
Disease [COPD] in the veteran population. COPD, the third
leading cause of death in the United States, can be caused by
smoking, exposure to air pollution, or genetic conditions. The
Committee is aware that several Veterans Affairs Medical
Centers [VAMC] are studying COPD and its effects on the veteran
population. The Committee notes the positive results of a pilot
testing program conducted by the Miami VAMC that utilized
electronic medical records to help detect and properly treat
veterans with COPD. The Department is directed to provide a
report to the Committees on Appropriations of both Houses of
Congress no later than 90 days after enactment of this act,
detailing the various COPD-related research projects currently
underway and those projects recently completed. The report
should include how research is being applied in clinical
settings to combat COPD and its effects, including the
utilization of electronic medical records to help detect and
properly treat veterans for COPD.
Preventing Pressure Ulcers.--In spite of advances in
nursing care, surgery, medical procedures, and education,
pressure ulcers--also known as bed sores--remain to this day a
major cause of healthcare cost, morbidity, and mortality. A
large segment of veterans receiving care through VHA are
particularly susceptible to pressure ulcers. While pressure
ulcers continue to be a serious problem, there are treatments
and medical devices in the early stages of development that can
prevent and heal these ulcers. Therefore, the Committee
encourages the Department to expand its research, development,
and clinical trials of medical devices and treatments designed
to prevent and heal pressure ulcers.
Gastrointestinal Disorders.--The Committee acknowledges the
association between Gulf War service and the development of
functional gastrointestinal disorders, as described in the 2010
Institute of Medicine report ``Gulf War and Health, Volume 8:
Health Effects of Serving in the Gulf War Update 2009.'' These
disorders can be painful and debilitating for our Nation's
veterans and the Committee urges the Department of Veterans
Affairs to prioritize this important research area.
MEDICAL CARE COST RECOVERY COLLECTIONS
MEDICAL CARE COLLECTION FUND
Appropriations, 2012.................................... $3,326,000,000
Budget estimate, 2013................................... 2,527,000,000
Committee recommendation................................ 2,527,000,000
MEDICAL CARE COLLECTION FUND--REVENUES APPLIED
Appropriations, 2012.................................... -$3,326,000,000
Budget estimate, 2013................................... -2,527,000,000
Committee recommendation................................ -2,527,000,000
PROGRAM DESCRIPTION
The Medical Care Collection Fund [MCCF] was established by
the Balanced Budget Act of 1997 (Public Law 105-33). In fiscal
year 2004, Public Law 108-199 allowed the Department of
Veterans Affairs to deposit first-party and pharmacy co-
payments; third-party insurance payments and enhanced-use
collections; long-term care co-payments; Compensated Work
Therapy Program collections; and Parking Program fees into the
MCCF. The Secretary of Veterans Affairs has the authority to
transfer funds from the MCCF to the Medical services account.
COMMITTEE RECOMMENDATION
The Committee recommendation includes the authority to
retain co-payments and third-party collections, estimated to
total $2,527,000,000 in fiscal year 2013.
The Committee is very concerned about overly optimistic
estimates of revenues collected through the Medical Care
Collection Fund [MCCF]. In fiscal year 2011, the VA estimated
it would collect $3,355,000,000 through MCCF. However, actual
collection in fiscal year 2011 totaled $2,772,546,000.
Similarly, the Department has had to revise its estimates
downward for fiscal years 2012 and 2013. While a number of
factors could be the cause of these variances, no detailed
explanation was provided with the budget submission. Therefore,
the Committee directs the Department to submit a report to the
Committees on Appropriations of both Houses of Congress no
later than December 3, 2012, outlining the causes for these
downward projections and what contingency plans are in place
should actual revenues continue to drop.
National Cemetery Administration
Appropriations, 2012.................................... $250,934,000
Budget estimate, 2013................................... 258,284,000
Committee recommendation................................ 258,284,000
ADMINISTRATION OVERVIEW
The National Cemetery Administration [NCA] was established
in accordance with Public Law 93-94, the National Cemeteries
Act of 1973. It has a four-fold mission: to provide for the
interment in any national cemetery of the remains of eligible
deceased servicemembers and discharged veterans, together with
their spouses and certain dependents, and permanently maintain
their graves; to provide headstones for, and to mark graves of,
eligible persons in national, State, and private cemeteries; to
administer the grant program for aid to States in establishing,
expanding, or improving State veterans cemeteries; and to
administer the Presidential Memorial Certificate Program.
COMMITTEE RECOMMENDATION
The Committee recommends $258,284,000 for the National
Cemetery Administration. This is an increase of $7,350,000
above the fiscal year 2012 enacted level and equal to the
budget request.
The Committee has included bill language to make available
through September 30, 2014, up to $25,828,000 of the National
Cemetery Administration appropriation.
Rural Cemetery Initiative.--The National Cemetery
Administration's fiscal year 2013 budget submission includes a
new initiative designed to improve burial access to veterans
residing in rural areas. NCA is proposing to establish a
national cemetery presence in rural areas where the veteran
population is less than 25,000 within a 75-mile service area.
NCA plans to achieve this by purchasing small parcels of land
within existing local cemeteries and establish and manage a
national cemetery presence in previously underserved rural
areas. The proposal will target those States in which there is
no national cemetery or State Veterans Cemetery. The Committee
supports this new initiative and believes it will help provide
many veterans and their families with the honor of a final
resting place in a veterans cemetery. However, it should be
noted that States with a single national cemetery that
encompass a large land area still face challenges to burial
access and would not be eligible under the guidelines of the
new initiative. The Committee encourages the Department to
consider expanding this initiative in the future to ensure that
its strategic goal of serving 94 percent of veterans with a
burial option within 75 miles of their home is met.
Departmental Administration
Appropriations, 2012.................................... $6,862,258,000
Budget estimate, 2013................................... 7,292,255,000
Committee recommendation................................ 7,302,255,000
ADMINISTRATION OVERVIEW
Departmental Administration provides for the administration
of veterans benefits through the Veterans Benefits
Administration [VBA], the executive direction of the
Department, several top level supporting offices, the Board of
Contract Appeals, and the Board of Veterans' Appeals.
COMMITTEE RECOMMENDATION
The Committee recommends $7,302,255,000 for Departmental
Administration. The amount is composed of $424,737,000 for
General administration; $2,164,074,000 for General operating
expenses, veterans benefits administration; $3,327,444,000 for
Information technology systems; $115,000,000 for the Office of
the Inspector General; $532,470,000 for Construction, major
projects; $607,530,000 for Construction, minor projects;
$85,000,000 for Grants for construction of State extended care
facilities; and $46,000,000 for Grants for the construction of
State veterans cemeteries.
GENERAL ADMINISTRATION
(INCLUDING TRANSFER OF FUNDS)
Appropriations, 2012.................................... $416,737,000
Budget estimate, 2013................................... 416,737,000
Committee recommendation................................ 424,737,000
PROGRAM DESCRIPTION
The General administration account provides funding for the
Office of the Secretary, six assistant secretaries, and three
independent staff offices.
COMMITTEE RECOMMENDATION
The Committee recommends $424,737,000 for General
administration. This amount is $8,000,000 above the fiscal year
2012 enacted level as well as the budget request. The
recommendation freezes all line offices at the fiscal year 2012
enacted level, except for the Board of Veterans Appeals [BVA].
The Board is responsible for making final decisions on behalf
of the Department for appealed veterans benefits claims. The
projected average time to resolve these appeals is 650 days.
Moreover, the VA projects the appeals backlog to grow to 65,611
claims in 2013 from the current projected level of 39,283. Wait
times are the number one complaint of most veterans, whether
during the initial claims process, the appeals process, or when
scheduling a medical appointment. The Department has made
efforts to address wait times at both the Veterans Benefits
Administration and Veterans Health Administration through
increased staffing and resources. However, staffing at BVA has
been steadily declining. The Committee strongly believes the
wait time and backlog at the appellate level are unacceptable
and that the budget request is clearly insufficient to address
the number of benefits claims on appeal. Therefore, the
Committee has included an additional $8,000,000 for the Board
to hire additional personnel. Further, the Committee directs
the Department to provide to the Committees on Appropriations
of both Houses of Congress no later than November 30, 2012, a
fiscal year 2013 staffing plan and detailed strategic plan to
address this issue. The strategic plan should also include an
explanation as to why the backlog in appeals is growing at an
alarmingly rapid pace.
The Committee has included bill language to make available
through September 30, 2014, up to $20,837,000 for General
administration. The funding recommendation for each line office
is provided in the table below.
GENERAL ADMINISTRATION
[In thousands of dollars]
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Fiscal year Fiscal year
Department 2012 enacted 2013 budget Committee
level request recommendation
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Office of the Secretary......................................... 10,085 10,085 10,085
Board of Veterans Appeals....................................... 78,006 78,006 86,006
Office of General Counsel....................................... 83,099 83,099 83,099
Office of Management............................................ 45,598 45,598 45,598
Office of Human Resources....................................... 70,379 70,379 70,379
Office of Policy and Planning................................... 26,015 26,015 26,015
Office of Operations Security and Preparedness.................. 18,510 18,510 18,510
Office of Public and Intergovernmental Affairs.................. 23,286 23,037 23,037
Office of Congressional Affairs and Legislative Affairs......... 6,053 6,302 6,302
Office of Acquisition, Logistics and Construction............... 55,706 55,706 55,706
-----------------------------------------------
Total..................................................... 416,737 416,737 424,737
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Franchise Fund.--The Franchise Fund was established in 1997
as a pilot program and made permanent in fiscal year 2006 under
Public Law 109-114. The Committee directs the Department to
provide a report on the Franchise Fund's business plan for
fiscal year 2013. This plan should include a list of services,
customers, overhead expenses, funds collected for services, and
the unobligated balance from the previous fiscal year. The VA
shall submit this report to the Committees on Appropriations of
both Houses of Congress no later than 60 days following
enactment of this act.
Tribal Government Outreach.--The Committee recognizes that
Native Americans have served in the Armed Forces in large
numbers, but often are hindered in receiving benefits by
cultural and geographic barriers. To address this, the
Department established a Tribal Veterans Representative program
that provides outreach to Native American Tribes and Alaska
Natives. These representatives help facilitate communication
and paperwork, and explain benefits to Native American and
Alaska Native veterans, to ensure that they are informed and
have access to benefits and services provided by the VA. The
Committee supports these outreach efforts and directs the
Department to provide annual reports to the Committees on
Appropriations of both Houses of Congress detailing outreach
initiatives provided to Native American and Alaska Native
veterans.
Oversight of Construction Activities.--The Committee
believes that VA Central Office needs to strengthen its
oversight of all construction activities in the field.
Therefore, no later than 60 days after enactment of this act,
the Office of the Secretary is directed to provide to the
Committees on Appropriations of both Houses of Congress a
report outlining processes that are in place to ensure proper
oversight of construction. This report should identify which
components of central oversight are performed outside of the
various VA administrations and whether spot audits are
performed in the field.
GENERAL OPERATING EXPENSES, VETERANS BENEFITS ADMINISTRATION
Appropriations, 2012.................................... $2,018,764,000
Budget estimate, 2013................................... 2,164,074,000
Committee recommendation................................ 2,164,074,000
PROGRAM DESCRIPTION
The General operating expenses, veterans benefits
administration account provides funding for the Veterans
Benefits Administration to administer entitlement programs such
as service-connected disability compensation, education
benefits, and vocational rehabilitation services.
COMMITTEE RECOMMENDATION
The Committee recommends $2,164,074,000 for General
operating expenses, veterans benefits administration, which is
$145,310,000 above fiscal year 2012 enacted level and equal to
the budget request. The Committee has included bill language to
make available through September 30, 2014, up to $113,000,000
for General operating expenses, veterans benefits
administration.
Claims Processing.--The lengthy wait time and persistent
backlog of claims at the Veterans Benefits Administration
continue to impose an unacceptable burden on disabled veterans.
The Committee understands the Department has set 2015 as the
date by which it plans to achieve a significant reduction in
the backlog of claims and to increase the accuracy rate at all
regional offices to 98 percent.
As noted by the Committee last year, the Department made a
policy decision to hire fewer permanent employees to handle
claims processing, and instead utilize external vendors in
specific elements of collecting materials for claims
processing, thus allowing VA employees to focus on
decisionmaking. This change was expected to improve efficiency
and reduce operating expenses related to claims processing. The
Committee directs the Department to submit, no later than 90
days after the enactment of this act, a report detailing the
metrics developed for evaluating the success of this effort in
reducing the backlog of claims and the average adjudication
time.
The Committee remains concerned that some parts of the
country continue to experience much longer wait times than
others, and the accuracy of claims decisions in one area of the
country versus another varies dramatically. The Committee notes
the Department's own goal is to have a 98-percent accuracy
rate, yet currently, nationwide accuracy is about 84 percent.
As of December 2011, the accuracy rate at regional offices
around the country varied from 94 to 64 percent. Because of
this, the Committee directs the Department to submit, no later
than 90 days after the enactment of this act, a report
detailing the wait times and accuracy rates of disability
claims decisions at all 57 regional offices. This report should
include information on how the quality-review teams and the
quality initiatives at each regional office have affected the
performance, wait times, and rates at each location.
Additionally, the report should include the specific metrics
the VBA uses in determining personnel performance.
Inspector General Report on Claims Processing Errors.--The
Committee is concerned about the recent findings by the
Department of Veterans Affairs Office of Inspector General that
the Oakland, Los Angeles and San Diego VA Regional Offices have
high error rates and claims processing times compared to other
regional offices across the Nation. For example, the Inspector
General found that 80 percent of claims reviewed in the Los
Angeles office were unnecessarily delayed and that in one case
a claim in Oakland had been pending for 8 years. The Inspector
General also determined that 97 percent of temporary 100
percent disability evaluations reviewed were processed
incorrectly at the Los Angeles Regional Office.
Delays and errors of this frequency and magnitude are not
acceptable, and steps must be taken to improve service to our
veterans at these regional offices. Therefore the Secretary is
directed to provide the Committees on Appropriations of both
Houses of Congress a report detailing how the Inspector
General's recommendations are being implemented. The report
shall also include an explanation about why the Los Angeles
office is currently operating in what is referred to as ``safe
mode,'' which means that staff is not held accountable to VA
standards.
Administration of the GI Bill.--Education Liaison
Representatives are VA employees who act as conduits between
school officials and the VA. The Committee is concerned about
how communication and assistance is provided to States which do
not currently have an Education Liaison Representative assigned
to work exclusively with their schools. Compounding this issue
is the lack of resources provided by the Department to ensure
that Education Liaison Representatives have adequate technology
to effectively communicate with schools to which they are
assigned. A failure to improve communication among the VA,
schools, and veterans across the country will continue to have
a negative impact on the timely delivery of education benefits
to our veterans and their families. The Committee strongly
encourages the Department to ensure Education Liaison
Representatives have adequate technology to make certain they
are able to effectively communicate while outside of their
offices with the schools to which they are assigned.
INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY SYSTEMS
Appropriations, 2012.................................... $3,111,376,000
Budget estimate, 2013................................... 3,327,444,000
Committee recommendation................................ 3,327,444,000
PROGRAM DESCRIPTION
The Information Technology [IT] appropriation, along with
reimbursements, funds the costs of all IT staff salaries and
expenses, the operations and maintenance of all existing
information technology systems, and the development of new
projects and programs designed to improve the delivery of
service to veterans. This appropriation also funds the costs
associated with the Office of Information and Technology, which
oversees the functions highlighted above.
COMMITTEE RECOMMENDATION
The Committee recommends $3,327,444,000 for the Information
technology systems account. This amount is $216,068,000 above
the fiscal year 2012 enacted level and equal to the budget
request. The Committee recommendation includes $1,021,000,000
for staff salaries and expenses, $1,812,045,000 for operation
and maintenance of existing programs, and $494,399,000 for
program development, all according to the Department's fiscal
year 2013 budget submission.
The Committee has appropriated the Information technology
systems account as three subaccounts, with funding levels
consistent with the Department's budget submission. This
funding structure will enhance the Committee's ability to
ensure that funds are executed in a manner consistent with the
Department's budget submission. The Committee has provided
sufficient flexibility within the subaccounts by way of
authorized carryover amounts and reprogramming authority to
give the Office of Information Technology as much flexibility
as possible to accomplish its mission and goals, while ensuring
proper accountability and oversight. The Committee will
continue to work with the Department to ensure that the IT
projects currently underway, as well as the projects planned
for the future, have the resources the VA needs to make them
successful.
The Committee has included bill language that restricts the
obligation of development funds until the Secretary of Veterans
Affairs or the Chief Information Officer submits to the
Committees on Appropriations of both Houses of Congress a
certification of the amounts, in parts or in full, that will be
obligated and expended for each development project. Further,
the Office of Information Technology is directed to provide an
IT expenditure report, by project, to the Committees on
Appropriations of both Houses of Congress on a monthly basis.
The chart below reflects the administration's budget
request for development projects and includes the Committee
recommendation for each. This chart will serve as the
Department's approved list of development projects, and all
requested changes are subject to the reprogramming guidelines
as outlined in the accompanying act.
INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY DEVELOPMENT PROJECTS
[In thousands of dollars]
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Fiscal year 2013 Committee
Project budget request recommendation
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Access to Healthcare IT Development. 40,313 40,313
Surgical Quality and Workflow 27,503 27,503
Management Development.............
Healthcare Efficiency IT Development 4,659 4,659
Homelessness IT Development......... 3,075 3,075
Integrated Electronic Health Record 104,000 104,000
[iEHR].............................
Mental Health IT Development........ 8,818 8,818
New Models of Care IT Development... 35,724 35,724
Veterans Benefits Management System 38,525 38,525
[VBMS].............................
Virtual Lifetime Electronic Record 49,939 49,939
[VLER].............................
Veterans Relationship Management 96,218 96,218
[VRM]..............................
Health Management Platform 7,500 7,500
Development........................
International Classification of 11,500 11,500
Diseases--10 Development...........
VHA Research IT Support Development. 18,521 18,521
Human Capital Development........... 9,100 9,100
Integrated Operating Model.......... 14,100 14,100
VA Learning Management Systems 5,540 5,540
Development........................
Other IT Development................ 19,364 19,364
-----------------------------------
Total, All Development........ 494,399 494,399
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Integrated Electronic Health Record [iEHR].--The Committee
commends the Department of Veterans Affairs for the consistent
and strong leadership displayed over the past year while
working with the Department of Defense [DOD] to develop an
integrated electronic health record [iEHR]. The Committee is
committed to the development of a unified health record system
which should produce major benefits in cost-savings and patient
safety. While the Committee remains supportive of this effort,
it is concerned that a detailed plan, including a timeline,
benchmarks, and total cost has not been transmitted to
Congress.
A comprehensive governance structure including these
critical components is essential to the successful development
of iEHR. Further, a development model similar to the Project
Management Accountability System [PMAS] focused on incremental
development with deliverable milestones should be utilized in
the development of this system. Therefore, no later than 30
days after the enactment of this act, the Committee directs the
VA, in conjunction with DOD, to report to the Committees on
Appropriations of both Houses of Congress an identified
timeframe for completion of iEHR, detailed benchmarks against
which to track its progress, and a detailed spend plan which
will show the total project cost. The Committee also directs
the VA, through the Interagency Program Office, to provide
quarterly updates on the progress of this project to the
Committees on Appropriations of both Houses of Congress.
The Committee continues to encourage the Departments to use
proven commercial off-the-shelf technology when developing
iEHR. The Committee remains convinced an open source approach
is the best way to develop iEHR so that the system does not
become overly reliant upon a single vendor and the Department
is able to take advantage of private sector technology. Such an
approach will encourage competition as vendors bid on iEHR
contracts, ensuring our servicemembers and veterans have access
to the best electronic health record technology available.
Veterans Benefits Management System.--The Veterans Benefits
Management System [VBMS] is the Department's key information
technology initiative designed to transform its paper-centric
claims environment into one that processes claims
electronically. National deployment of this system begins in
the summer of 2012 and continues through 2013. The VA has made
deployment of this system a linchpin in its strategy to reduce
the backlog and average wait time for claims to be adjudicated.
The Committee supports the efforts to transform the VBA
disability claims process and is hopeful this strategy proves
to be successful. The Committee directs the Department to
provide quarterly updates on the implementation of VBMS and to
provide details of how this implementation has increased the
efficiency and timeliness of the VBA claims process.
Innovation Initiative.--Last year, the Committee encouraged
the Department to use funding from the Information Technology
Systems account for the Innovation Initiative program for an
open competition to utilize commercial off-the-shelf technology
to develop a decision support system and automate VBA's
Veterans Schedule for Rating Disabilities. The Committee
directs the VA to report to the Committees on Appropriations of
both Houses of Congress within 120 days of enactment of this
act how the VA is utilizing commercial off-the-shelf technology
to develop a decision support system and automate the VBA's
Veterans Schedule for Rating Disabilities.
OFFICE OF INSPECTOR GENERAL
Appropriations, 2012.................................... $112,391,000
Budget estimate, 2013................................... 113,000,000
Committee recommendation................................ 115,000,000
PROGRAM DESCRIPTION
The Office of Inspector General [OIG] was established by
the Inspector General Act of 1978 and is responsible for the
audit, investigation, and inspection of all Department of
Veterans Affairs programs and operations.
COMMITTEE RECOMMENDATION
The Committee recommends $115,000,000 for the Office of
Inspector General. This is $2,609,000 above the fiscal year
2012 enacted level and $2,000,000 above the budget request. The
OIG recently issued a report outlining problems veterans face
in receiving timely access to mental health services. In light
of the OIG's findings, the Committee has provided an increase
for the Inspector General to increase audits of the Veterans
Health Administration and field activities. The Committee has
included bill language to make available through September 30,
2014, up to $6,000,000 for the Office of the Inspector General.
CONSTRUCTION, MAJOR PROJECTS
Appropriations, 2012.................................... $589,604,000
Budget estimate, 2013................................... 532,470,000
Committee recommendation................................ 532,470,000
PROGRAM DESCRIPTION
The Construction, major projects account provides for
constructing, altering, extending, and improving any of the
facilities (including parking projects) under the jurisdiction
or for the use of the VA, including planning, architectural and
engineering services, needs assessment, and site acquisition
where the estimated cost of a project is more than the amount
set forth in 38 U.S.C. 8104(a)(3)(A). Proceeds realized from
Enhanced Use Lease activities may be deposited into the
Construction, major projects and Construction, minor projects
accounts.
COMMITTEE RECOMMENDATION
The Committee recommends an appropriation of $532,470,000
for the construction of major projects. This is $57,134,000
below the fiscal year 2012 enacted level and equal to the
budget request.
The following table reflects the President's budget request
for major construction projects and activities, and the
corresponding Committee recommendations.
CONSTRUCTION, MAJOR PROJECTS
[In thousands of dollars]
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Fiscal year 2013 Committee
Location and description budget request recommendation
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Veterans Health Administration
[VHA]:
St. Louis, Missouri--Jefferson 130,300 130,300
Barracks, Medical Facility
Improvements and Cemetery
Expansion......................
Palo Alto, California--Centers 177,823 177,823
for Ambulatory Care,
Polytrauma, Blind
Rehabilitation, and Research...
Seattle, Washington--New Mental 55,000 55,000
Health Building................
Dallas, Texas--Spinal Cord 33,500 33,500
Injury Center..................
Advance Planning Fund........... 70,000 70,000
Asbestos........................ 8,000 8,000
Construction and Facilities 24,000 24,000
Management Resident Engineers
and Staff......................
Claims Analyses................. 2,000 2,000
Facility Security Projects...... 7,200 7,200
Hazardous Waste Abatement....... 5,000 5,000
Judgment Fund................... 5,000 5,000
-----------------------------------
Total, VHA.................... 517,823 517,823
===================================
National Cemetery Administration
[NCA]:
Advance Planning Fund........... 2,647 2,647
NCA Land Acquisition Fund....... 7,000 7,000
-----------------------------------
Total, NCA.................... 9,647 9,647
===================================
General Administration--Staff 5,000 5,000
Offices, Advance Planning Fund.....
===================================
Total Construction, Major 532,470 532,470
Projects.....................
------------------------------------------------------------------------
CONSTRUCTION, MINOR PROJECTS
Appropriations, 2012.................................... $482,386,000
Budget estimate, 2013................................... 607,530,000
Committee recommendation................................ 607,530,000
PROGRAM DESCRIPTION
The Construction, minor projects account provides for
constructing, altering, extending, and improving any of the
facilities (including parking) under the jurisdiction or for
the use of the VA, including planning, assessment of needs,
architectural and engineering services, and site acquisition,
where the estimated cost of a project is equal to or less than
$10,000,000. Public Law 106-117, the Veterans Millennium Health
Care and Benefits Act of 1999, gave the VA the authority to
make capital contributions from minor construction in enhanced-
use leases. Proceeds realized from enhanced-use lease
activities may be deposited into the Construction, major
projects and Construction, minor projects accounts.
COMMITTEE RECOMMENDATION
The Committee recommends $607,530,000 for minor
construction. This is $125,144,000 above the fiscal year 2012
enacted level and equal to the budget request.
The recommendation includes $506,332,000 for the Veterans
Health Administration, $58,100,000 for the National Cemetery
Administration, $13,405,000 for General Administration--Staff
Offices, and $29,693,000 for the Veterans Benefits
Administration. The Committee directs the Department to provide
an expenditure plan within 30 days of enactment of this act for
the amount appropriated for minor construction.
GRANTS FOR CONSTRUCTION OF STATE EXTENDED CARE FACILITIES
Appropriations, 2012.................................... $85,000,000
Budget estimate, 2013................................... 85,000,000
Committee recommendation................................ 85,000,000
PROGRAM DESCRIPTION
This account is used to provide grants to assist States in
acquiring or constructing State home facilities for furnishing
domiciliary or nursing home care to veterans, and to expand,
remodel, or alter existing buildings for furnishing
domiciliary, nursing home, or hospital care to veterans in
State homes. The grant may not exceed 65 percent of the total
cost of the project. Public Law 102-585 granted permanent
authority for this program, and Public Law 106-117 provided
greater specificity in directing VA to prescribe regulations
for the number of beds for which grant assistance may be
furnished. This program has been a successful partnership
between the States and the VA in meeting the long-term care
needs of elderly veterans for decades.
COMMITTEE RECOMMENDATION
The Committee recommends $85,000,000 for grants for the
construction of State extended care facilities. This is equal
to the fiscal year 2012 enacted level and equal to the budget
request.
GRANTS FOR CONSTRUCTION OF VETERANS CEMETERIES
Appropriations, 2012.................................... $46,000,000
Budget estimate, 2013................................... 46,000,000
Committee recommendation................................ 46,000,000
PROGRAM DESCRIPTION
Public Law 105-368 amended title 38 U.S.C. 2408 and
established authority to provide aid to States for
establishment, expansion, and improvement of State veterans
cemeteries, which are operated and permanently maintained by
the States. This statutory change increased the maximum Federal
share from 50 percent to 100 percent in order to fund
construction costs and the initial equipment expenses when the
cemetery is established. The States remain responsible for
providing the land and for paying all costs related to the
operation and maintenance of the State cemeteries, including
the costs for subsequent equipment purchases.
COMMITTEE RECOMMENDATION
The Committee recommends $46,000,000 for grants for the
construction of State veterans cemeteries. This is equal to the
fiscal year 2012 enacted level and equal to the budget request.
Administrative Provisions
(INCLUDING TRANSFER OF FUNDS)
Sec. 201. The Committee includes a provision which outlines
reprogramming authority and responsibilities for the Veterans
Benefits Administration.
Sec. 202. The Committee includes a provision which outlines
reprogramming authority and responsibilities for the Veterans
Health Administration.
Sec. 203. The Committee includes a provision which outlines
the use of the Salaries and expenses account.
Sec. 204. The Committee includes a provision mandating that
only construction funds may be used for land procurement.
Sec. 205. The Committee includes a provision allowing for
reimbursements to the Medical services account.
Sec. 206. The Committee includes a provision allowing for
payments of prior year obligations.
Sec. 207. The Committee includes a provision which allows
for the use of fiscal year 2013 funds for prior year
obligations.
Sec. 208. The Committee includes a provision which allows
for payments from the National Service Life Insurance Fund.
Sec. 209. The Committee includes a provision which outlines
the use of funds from enhanced-use lease proceeds.
Sec. 210. The Committee includes a provision which provides
for funds for the Office of Resolution Management and the
Office of Employment Discrimination Complaint Adjudication.
Sec. 211. The Committee includes a provision which sets a
limit on new leases without congressional approval.
Sec. 212. The Committee includes a provision which requires
disclosure of third-party reimbursement information.
Sec. 213. The Committee includes a provision which allows
for the transfer of revenue derived from enhanced-use leases
into the construction accounts.
Sec. 214. The Committee includes a provision which outlines
authorized uses for medical services funds.
Sec. 215. The Committee includes a provision which allows
funds in the Medical Care Collection Fund to be transferred
into the Medical services account.
Sec. 216. The Committee includes a provision which allows
eligible veterans in the State of Alaska to obtain medical care
services.
Sec. 217. The Committee includes a provision which allows
for the transfer of funds into the construction accounts.
Sec. 218. The Committee includes a provision which allows
for outreach and marketing to enroll new veterans.
Sec. 219. The Committee includes a provision requiring the
Secretary of Veterans Affairs to submit quarterly financial
reports on the Veterans Health Administration.
Sec. 220. The Committee includes a provision outlining
transfer authority for the Information technology systems
account.
Sec. 221. The Committee includes a provision outlining
limits on transfers within the Information technology systems
account.
Sec. 222. The Committee includes a provision prohibiting
any funds to be used to contract out any functions performed by
more than 10 employees without a fair competition process.
Sec. 223. The Committee includes a provision limiting the
amount of nonrecurring maintenance funds that can be obligated
during the last 2 months of the fiscal year.
Sec. 224. The Committee includes a provision allowing for
the transfer of funds from certain accounts to the Joint
Department of Defense/Department of Veterans Affairs Medical
Facility Demonstration Fund, as authorized by Public Law 111-
84.
Sec. 225. The Committee includes a provision allowing for
the transfer of certain funds deposited in the Medical Care
Collections Fund to the Joint Department of Defense/Department
of Veterans Affairs Medical Facility Demonstration Fund, as
authorized by Public Law 111-84.
Sec. 226. The Committee includes a provision directing a
minimum of $15,000,000 be transferred from Medical services,
Medical support and compliance, and Medical facilities to the
Department of Defense/Department of Veterans Affairs Health
Care Sharing Incentive Fund, as authorized by section 8111 of
title 38, United States Code.
Sec. 227. The Committee includes a provision rescinding
funds from certain accounts and appropriating additional
amounts with 2-year authority.
Sec. 228. The Committee includes a provision requiring
notification of all bid savings for major construction
projects.
Sec. 229. The Committee includes a provision restricting
scope increases for major construction projects above that
specified in the original project justification.
Sec. 230. The Committee includes a provision prohibiting
the use of funds in the act for any contract using procedures
that do not give to small business concerns owned and
controlled by veterans any preference with respect to such
contract, except for a preference given to small business
concerns owned and controlled by service-disabled veterans.
Sec. 231. The Committee includes a provision extending the
authorization for the VA office in the Philippines through
December 31, 2013.
Sec. 232. The Committee includes a provision regarding
reimbursement rates to State Veterans Homes.
TITLE III
RELATED AGENCIES
American Battle Monuments Commission
PROGRAM DESCRIPTION
The American Battle Monuments Commission [ABMC] is
responsible for the following: the maintenance and construction
of U.S. monuments and memorials commemorating the achievements
in battle of our Armed Forces since April 1917 (the date of the
United States entry into World War I); the erection of
monuments and markers by U.S. citizens and organizations in
foreign countries; and the design, construction, and
maintenance of permanent military cemetery memorials in foreign
countries. The Commission maintains 24 military memorial
cemeteries and 31 monuments, memorials, and markers in 15
countries around the world, including three memorials on U.S.
soil.
SALARIES AND EXPENSES
Appropriations, 2012.................................... $61,100,000
Budget estimate, 2013................................... 58,400,000
Committee recommendation................................ 58,400,000
COMMITTEE RECOMMENDATION
The Committee recommends $58,400,000 for the Salaries and
expenses account. This amount is $2,700,000 below the fiscal
year 2012 enacted level and equal to the budget request.
FOREIGN CURRENCY FLUCTUATIONS
Appropriations, 2012.................................... $16,000,000
Budget estimate, 2013................................... 15,200,000
Committee recommendation................................ 15,200,000
COMMITTEE RECOMMENDATION
The Committee recommends an estimated $15,200,000 for the
Foreign currency fluctuation account. This amount is $800,000
below the fiscal year 2012 enacted level and equal to the
budget request.
The Committee has again included language in the
accompanying act, as proposed by the administration, that would
allow funding for this account on a ``such sums as necessary''
basis. Funding the account in this manner allows the Commission
to maintain cemeteries regardless of the volatility of foreign
currency fluctuations.
U.S. Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims
OVERVIEW
The U.S. Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims was
established by the Veterans' Judicial Review Act of 1988. The
Court is an independent judicial tribunal with exclusive
jurisdiction to review decisions of the Board of Veterans'
Appeals. It has the authority to decide all relevant questions
of law; interpret constitutional, statutory, and regulatory
provisions; and determine the meaning or applicability of the
terms of an action by the Secretary of Veterans Affairs. It is
authorized to compel action by the Secretary. It is authorized
to hold unconstitutional or otherwise unlawful and set aside
decisions, findings, conclusions, rules, and regulations issued
or adopted by the Secretary of Veterans Affairs, the Board of
Veterans' Appeals, or the Chairman of the Board that are found
to be arbitrary or capricious. The Court's principal office
location is Washington, DC; however, it is a national court,
empowered to sit anywhere in the United States.
SALARIES AND EXPENSES
Appropriations, 2012.................................... $30,770,000
Budget estimate, 2013................................... 32,481,000
Committee recommendation................................ 32,481,000
COMMITTEE RECOMMENDATION
The Committee recommends $32,481,000 for the U.S. Court of
Appeals for Veterans Claims.
Department of Defense--Civil
Cemeterial Expenses, Army
OVERVIEW
The Secretary of the Army is responsible for the
administration, operation and maintenance of Arlington National
Cemetery and the Soldiers' and Airmen's Home National Cemetery.
In addition to its principal function as a national cemetery,
Arlington is the site of approximately 3,000 nonfuneral
ceremonies each year and has approximately 4 million visitors
annually.
SALARIES AND EXPENSES
Appropriations, 2012.................................... $45,800,000
Budget estimate, 2013................................... 45,800,000
Committee recommendation\1\............................. 41,000,000
\1\The fiscal year 2013 budget request for Cemeterial Expenses, Army
included $4,800,000 for construction. The Committee has provided all
construction funding within the construction account.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
COMMITTEE RECOMMENDATION
The Committee recommends $41,000,000 for Salaries and
expenses. This amount is $4,800,000 below the fiscal year 2012
enacted level and budget request. To increase oversight of the
expenditure of funds, the Committee has created a separate
Construction account and funded all construction activities
requested within the new account, including the $4,800,000
requested through the Salaries and expenses account.
The Committee directs the Executive Director of Arlington
National Cemetery to continue the office's audits of past
contracts and outstanding financial obligations, and update the
Committee on its findings along with quarterly reports on
unexpended prior year funding, status updates on the upgrading
of the information technology systems, and reports on ANC's
expansion plans. The Committee encourages cemetery officials
and the Department of the Army to work with the Department of
Veterans Affairs in the development of a common architecture
software for the information technology system for Arlington
National Cemetery.
CONSTRUCTION
Appropriations, 2012....................................................
Budget estimate, 2013\1\................................................
Committee recommendation................................ $107,800,000
\1\The fiscal year 2013 budget submission for Military Construction,
Army included a request of $103,000,000 for construction at Arlington
National Cemetery.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
COMMITTEE RECOMMENDATION
The Committee recommends $107,800,000 for construction. The
recommendation includes $103,000,000 for planning, design, and
construction associated with the Millennium Project and future
expansion of burial capacity at Arlington National Cemetery
[ANC]. The Committee recognizes that burial and interment space
at ANC will run out in approximately 2025 and that capacity
expansion must be planned and executed well in advance to allow
for the proper preparation of land for the expansion. ANC plans
to develop additional burial space through construction of the
Millennium Project and development of the Navy Annex. The
administration's submission included this request in title I,
within the Military Construction, Army account. ANC is funded
in the Related Agencies title of this act. Therefore, the
Committee denied funding for these projects in title I and
instead appropriated the funds directly to the title III
account that funds Arlington National Cemetery.
Armed Forces Retirement Home
TRUST FUND
Appropriations, 2012.................................... $65,700,000
Budget estimate, 2013................................... 65,590,000
Committee recommendation................................ 65,590,000
COMMITTEE RECOMMENDATION
The Committee recommends authority to expend $65,590,000
from the Armed Forces Retirement Home [AFRH] Trust Fund to
operate and maintain the Armed Forces Retirement Home--
Washington, DC, and the Armed Forces Retirement Home--Gulfport,
Mississippi.
TITLE IV
GENERAL PROVISIONS
Sec. 401. The Committee includes a provision that prohibits
the obligation of funds beyond the current fiscal year unless
expressly so provided.
Sec. 402. The Committee includes a provision that prohibits
the use of funds for programs, projects, or activities not in
compliance with Federal law relating to risk assessment, the
protection of private property rights, or unfunded mandates.
Sec. 403. The Committee includes a provision that requires
pay raises to be absorbed within the levels appropriated.
Sec. 404. The Committee includes a provision that prohibits
the use of funds to support or defeat legislation pending
before Congress.
Sec. 405. The Committee includes a provision that
encourages the expansion of E-commerce technologies and
procedures.
Sec. 406. The Committee includes a provision that specifies
the congressional committees that are to receive all reports
and notifications.
Sec. 407. The Committee includes a provision that limits
funds from being transferred from this appropriations measure
to any instrumentality of the United States Government without
authority from an appropriations act.
Sec. 408. The Committee includes a provision regarding the
posting of congressional reports on agency Web sites.
Sec. 409. The Committee includes a provision prohibiting
the use of funds to establish or maintain a computer network
unless such network blocks the viewing, downloading, and
exchanging of pornography, except for law enforcement
investigation, prosecution, or adjudication activities.
Sec. 410. The Committee includes a provision limiting the
construction of facilities for the purposes of housing
individuals detained at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
Sec. 411. The Committee includes a provision prohibiting
the use of funds to pay for attendance of more than 50
employees at any single conference outside the United States.
Sec. 412. The Committee includes a provision requiring
agencies to report conference spending to the Inspectors
General and prohibiting the use of funds made available in this
act for travel and conference expenses not in compliance with
Office of Management and Budget memorandum M-12-12 dated May
11, 2012.
PROGRAM, PROJECT, AND ACTIVITY
In fiscal year 2013, for purposes of the Balanced Budget
and Emergency Deficit Control Act of 1985 (Public Law 99-177)
or the Balanced Budget and Emergency Deficit Control
Reaffirmation Act of 1987 (Public Law 100-119), the following
information provides the definition of the term ``program,
project, and activity'' for departments, agencies and programs
under the jurisdiction of the Military Construction and
Veterans Affairs, and Related Agencies subcommittee. The term
``program, project, and activity'' shall include the most
specific level of budget items identified in the Military
Construction and Veterans Affairs, and Related Agencies
Appropriations Act, 2013, the House and Senate Committee
reports, and the conference report and accompanying joint
explanatory statement of managers of the committee of
conference.
If a sequestration order is necessary, in implementing the
Presidential order, departments, and agencies shall apply any
percentage reduction required for fiscal year 2013 pursuant to
the provisions of Public Law 99-177 or Public Law 100-119 to
all items specified in the justifications submitted to the
Committees on Appropriations of the Senate and House of
Representatives in support of the fiscal year 2013 budget
estimates, as amended, for such departments and agencies, as
modified by congressional action, and in addition, for the
Department of Defense, Military Construction the definition
shall include specific construction locations as identified in
the explanatory notes.
COMPLIANCE WITH PARAGRAPH 7, RULE XVI, OF THE STANDING RULES OF THE
SENATE
Paragraph 7 of rule XVI requires that Committee reports
accompanying general appropriations bills identify each
recommended amendment which proposes an item of appropriation
which is not made to carry out the provisions of an existing
law, a treaty stipulation, or an act or resolution previously
passed by the Senate during that session.
The Committee is filing an original bill, which is not
covered under this rule, but reports this information in the
spirit of full disclosure.
The Committee recommends funding for the following programs
which currently lack authorization:
Title I: Department of Defense
Military Construction, Army
Military Construction, Navy and Marine Corps
Military Construction, Air Force
Military Construction, Defense-Wide
Military Construction, Army National Guard
Military Construction, Air National Guard
Military Construction, Army Reserve
Military Construction, Navy Reserve
Military Construction, Air Force Reserve
North Atlantic Treaty Organization Security Investment
Program
Family Housing Construction, Army
Family Housing Operation and Maintenance, Army
Family Housing Construction, Navy and Marine Corps
Family Housing Operation and Maintenance, Navy and Marine
Corps
Family Housing Construction, Air Force
Family Housing Operation and Maintenance, Air Force
Family Housing Operation and Maintenance, Defense-Wide
Department of Defense, Family Housing Improvement Fund
Chemical Demilitarization Construction, Defense-Wide
Base Realignment and Closure Account, 1990
Base Realignment and Closure Account, 2005
Title II: Department of Veterans Affairs
Veterans Benefits Administration
Veterans Health Administration
National Cemetery Administration
Departmental Administration
Title III: Related Agencies
American Battle Monuments Commission
U.S. Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims
Cemeterial Expenses, Army
Armed Forces Retirement Home
COMPLIANCE WITH PARAGRAPH 7(c), RULE XXVI OF THE STANDING RULES OF THE
SENATE
Pursuant to paragraph 7(c) of rule XXVI, on May 22, 2012,
the Committee ordered favorably reported the bill (S. 3215),
making appropriations for military construction, the Department
of Veterans Affairs, and related agencies for the fiscal year
ending September 30, 2013, and for other purposes, subject to
amendment, by a recorded vote of 30-0, a quorum being present.
The vote was as follows:
Yeas Nays
Chairman Inouye
Mr. Leahy
Mr. Harkin
Ms. Mikulski
Mr. Kohl
Mrs. Murray
Mrs. Feinstein
Mr. Durbin
Mr. Johnson
Ms. Landrieu
Mr. Reed
Mr. Lautenberg
Mr. Nelson
Mr. Pryor
Mr. Tester
Mr. Brown
Mr. Cochran
Mr. McConnell
Mr. Shelby
Mrs. Hutchison
Mr. Alexander
Ms. Collins
Ms. Murkowski
Mr. Graham
Mr. Kirk
Mr. Coats
Mr. Blunt
Mr. Moran
Mr. Hoeven
Mr. Johnson
COMPLIANCE WITH PARAGRAPH 12, RULE XXVI OF THE STANDING RULES OF THE
SENATE
Paragraph 12 of rule XXVI requires that Committee reports
on a bill or joint resolution repealing or amending any statute
or part of any statute include ``(a) the text of the statute or
part thereof which is proposed to be repealed; and (b) a
comparative print of that part of the bill or joint resolution
making the amendment and of the statute or part thereof
proposed to be amended, showing by stricken-through type and
italics, parallel columns, or other appropriate typographical
devices the omissions and insertions which would be made by the
bill or joint resolution if enacted in the form recommended by
the committee.''
In compliance with this rule, changes in existing law
proposed to be made by the bill are shown as follows: existing
law to be omitted is enclosed in black brackets; new matter is
printed in italic; and existing law in which no change is
proposed is shown in roman.
TITLE 38--VETERANS' BENEFITS
CHAPTER 3--DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS
Sec. 315. Regional offices
(a) * * *
(b) The Secretary may maintain a regional office in the
Republic of the Philippines until [December 31, 2012] December
31, 2013.
PART II--GENERAL BENEFITS
CHAPTER 17--HOSPITAL, NURSING HOME, DOMICILIARY, AND MEDICAL CARE
SUBCHAPTER II--HOSPITAL, NURSING HOME, OR DOMICILIARY CARE AND MEDICAL
TREATMENT
Sec. 1720. Transfers for nursing home care; adult day health care
(a)(1) * * *
* * * * * * *
(c)(1)(A) In furnishing nursing home care, adult day health
care, or other extended care services under this section, the
Secretary may enter into agreements for furnishing such care or
services with--
(i) in the case of the medicare program, a provider of
services that has entered into a provider agreement
under section 1866(a) of the Social Security Act (42
U.S.C. 1395cc(a))[; and];
(ii) in the case of the medicaid program, a provider
participating under a State plan under title XIX of
such Act (42 U.S.C. 1396 et seq.)[.]; and
(iii) a provider of services eligible to enter into a
contract pursuant to section 1745(a) of this title who
is not otherwise described in clause (i) or (ii).
* * * * * * *
SUBCHAPTER V--PAYMENTS TO STATE HOMES
Sec. 1745. Nursing home care and medications for veterans with service-
connected disabilities
(a)(1) [The Secretary shall pay each State home for nursing
home care at the rate determined under paragraph (2)] The
Secretary shall enter into a contract (or agreement under
section 1720(c)(1)of this title) with each State home for
payment by the Secretary for nursing home care provided in the
home, in any case in which such care is provided to any veteran
as follows:
* * * * * * *
[(2) The rate determined under this paragraph with respect to a
State home is the lesser of--
[(A) the applicable or prevailing rate payable in the
geographic area in which the State home is located, as
determined by the Secretary, for nursing home care
furnished in a non-Department nursing home (as that
term is defined in section 1720(e)(2) of this title);
or
[(B) a rate not to exceed the daily cost of care, as
determined by the Secretary, following a report to the
Secretary by the director of the State home.]
(2) Payment under each contract (or agreement) between the
Secretary and a State home under paragraph (1) shall be based
on a methodology, developed by the Secretary in consultation
with the State home, to adequately reimburse the State home for
the care provided by the State home under the contract (or
agreement).
BUDGETARY IMPACT OF BILL
PREPARED IN CONSULTATION WITH THE CONGRESSIONAL BUDGET OFFICE PURSUANT TO SEC. 308(a), PUBLIC LAW 93-344, AS
AMENDED
[In millions of dollars]
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Budget authority Outlays
---------------------------------------------------------
Committee Amount in Committee Amount in
allocation\1\ bill allocation\1\ bill
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Comparison of amounts in the bill with Committee
allocations to its subcommittees of amounts in the
Budget Resolution for 2013: Subcommittee on Military
Construction and Veterans Affairs, and Related
Agencies:
Mandatory......................................... 72,319 72,319 72,017 \1\71,992
Discretionary..................................... 72,241 71,975 52,731 \1\79,348
Security...................................... 10,920 10,654 NA NA
Nonsecurity................................... 61,321 61,321 NA NA
Projection of outlays associated with the
recommendation:
2013.............................................. .............. ........... .............. \2\79,558
2014.............................................. .............. ........... .............. 5,872
2015.............................................. .............. ........... .............. 4,431
2016.............................................. .............. ........... .............. 1,685
2017 and future years............................. .............. ........... .............. 1,317
Financial assistance to State and local governments NA 147 NA 7
for 2013............................................
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
\1\Includes outlays from prior-year budget authority.
\2\Excludes outlays from prior-year budget authority.
NA: Not applicable.
MILITARY CONSTRUCTION PROJECT LISTING BY LOCATION
[In thousands of dollars]
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Committee
recommendation
Budget Committee compared with
Installation and project estimate recommendation (+ or -)
budget
estimate
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
ALABAMA
ARMY NATIONAL GUARD:
FORT MC CLELLAN:
LIVE FIRE SHOOT HOUSE................................... 5,400 5,400 ..............
-----------------------------------------------
TOTAL, ALABAMA........................................ 5,400 5,400 ..............
ALASKA
ARMY:
FORT WAINWRIGHT:
MODIFIED RECORD FIRE RANGE.............................. 10,400 10,400 ..............
JOINT BASE ELMENDORF-RICHARDSON:
MODIFIED RECORD FIRE RANGE.............................. 7,900 7,900 ..............
-----------------------------------------------
TOTAL, ALASKA......................................... 18,300 18,300 ..............
ARIZONA
NAVY:
YUMA:
COMBAT AIRCRAFT LOADING APRON........................... 15,985 15,985 ..............
SECURITY OPERATIONS COMPLEX............................. 13,300 13,300 ..............
DEFENSE-WIDE:
MARANA:
SOF PARACHUTE TRAINING FACILITY......................... 6,477 6,477 ..............
YUMA:
TRUCK UNLOAD FACILITY................................... 1,300 1,300 ..............
NAVY RESERVE:
YUMA:
RESERVE TRAINING FACILITY--YUMA, ARIZONA................ 5,379 5,379 ..............
-----------------------------------------------
TOTAL, ARIZONA........................................ 42,441 42,441 ..............
ARKANSAS
AIR FORCE:
LITTLE ROCK AFB:
C-130J FLIGHT SIMULATOR ADDITION........................ 4,178 4,178 ..............
C-130J FUEL SYSTEMS MAINTENANCE HANGAR.................. 26,000 26,000 ..............
ARMY NATIONAL GUARD:
SEARCY:
FIELD MAINTENANCE SHOP.................................. 6,800 6,800 ..............
-----------------------------------------------
TOTAL, ARKANSAS....................................... 36,978 36,978 ..............
CALIFORNIA
ARMY:
CONCORD:
ENGINEERING/HOUSING MAINTENANCE SHOP.................... 3,100 3,100 ..............
LIGHTNING PROTECTION SYSTEM............................. 5,800 5,800 ..............
NAVY:
CAMP PENDLETON:
COMMUNICATION INFORMATION SYSTEMS OPERATIONS COMPLEX.... 78,897 78,897 ..............
MV-22 AVIATION SIMULATOR BUILDING....................... 4,139 4,139 ..............
SAN JACINTO ROAD EXTENSION.............................. 5,074 5,074 ..............
CORONADO:
BACHELOR QUARTERS....................................... 76,063 76,063 ..............
H-60S SIMULATOR TRAINING FACILITY....................... 2,478 2,478 ..............
LEMOORE:
BAMS MAINTENANCE TRAINING FACILITY...................... 14,843 14,843 ..............
MIRAMAR:
HANGAR 5 RENOVATIONS AND ADDITION....................... 27,897 27,897 ..............
SAN DIEGO:
ENTRY CONTROL POINT (GATE FIVE)......................... 11,752 11,752 ..............
LCS TRAINING FACILITY................................... 59,436 59,436 ..............
SEAL BEACH:
STRATEGIC SYSTEMS WEAPONS EVALUATION TEST LABORATORY.... 30,594 30,594 ..............
TWENTYNINE PALMS:
LAND EXPANSION PHASE 2.................................. 47,270 47,270 ..............
DEFENSE-WIDE:
CORONADO:
SOF CLOSE QUARTERS COMBAT/DYNAMIC SHOOT FACILITY........ 13,969 13,969 ..............
SOF INDOOR DYNAMIC SHOOTING FACILITY.................... 31,170 31,170 ..............
SOF MOBILE COMM DETACHMENT SUPPORT FACILITY............. 10,120 10,120 ..............
DEF FUEL SUPPORT POINT--SAN DIEGO:
REPLACE FUEL PIER....................................... 91,563 91,563 ..............
EDWARDS AIR FORCE BASE:
REPLACE FUEL STORAGE.................................... 27,500 27,500 ..............
TWENTYNINE PALMS:
MEDICAL CLINIC REPLACEMENT.............................. 27,400 27,400 ..............
ARMY NATIONAL GUARD:
FORT IRWIN:
MANEUVER AREA TRAINING AND EQUIPMENT SITE PH3........... 25,000 25,000 ..............
AIR NATIONAL GUARD:
FRESNO YOSEMITE IAP ANG:
F-15 CONVERSION......................................... 11,000 11,000 ..............
ARMY RESERVE:
FORT HUNTER LIGGETT:
ORTC.................................................... 64,000 64,000 ..............
UPH BARRACKS............................................ 4,300 4,300 ..............
TUSTIN:
ARMY RESERVE CENTER..................................... 27,000 27,000 ..............
-----------------------------------------------
TOTAL, CALIFORNIA..................................... 700,365 700,365 ..............
COLORADO
ARMY:
FORT CARSON:
DIGITAL MULTIPURPOSE TRAINING RANGE..................... 18,000 18,000 ..............
DEFENSE-WIDE:
BUCKLEY AIR FORCE BASE:
DENVER POWER HOUSE...................................... 30,000 30,000 ..............
FORT CARSON:
SOF BATTALION OPERATIONS COMPLEX........................ 56,673 56,673 ..............
PIKES PEAK:
HIGH ALTITUDE MEDICAL RESEARCH LABORATORY............... 3,600 3,600 ..............
PUEBLO DEPOT:
AMMUNITION DEMILITARIZATION FACILITY, PH XIV............ 36,000 36,000 ..............
-----------------------------------------------
TOTAL, COLORADO....................................... 144,273 144,273 ..............
CONNECTICUT
ARMY NATIONAL GUARD:
CAMP HARTELL:
COMBINED SUPPORT MAINTENANCE SHOP....................... 32,000 32,000 ..............
-----------------------------------------------
TOTAL, CONNECTICUT.................................... 32,000 32,000 ..............
DELAWARE
DEFENSE-WIDE:
DOVER AFB:
REPLACE TRUCK OFF-LOAD FACILITY......................... 2,000 2,000 ..............
ARMY NATIONAL GUARD:
BETHANY BEACH:
REGIONAL TRAINING INSTITUTE PH1......................... 5,500 5,500 ..............
-----------------------------------------------
TOTAL, DELAWARE....................................... 7,500 7,500 ..............
DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA
ARMY:
FORT MCNAIR:
VEHICLE STORAGE BUILDING, INSTALLATION.................. 7,200 7,200 ..............
-----------------------------------------------
TOTAL, DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA........................... 7,200 7,200 ..............
FLORIDA
NAVY:
JACKSONVILLE:
BAMS MISSION CONTROL COMPLEX............................ 21,980 21,980 ..............
AIR FORCE:
TYNDALL AFB:
F-22 ADAL HANGAR FOR LOW OBSERVABLE/COMPOSITE........... 14,750 14,750 ..............
DEFENSE-WIDE:
EGLIN AFB:
SOF AVFID OPS AND MAINTENANCE FACILITIES................ 41,695 41,695 ..............
HURLBURT FIELD:
CONSTRUCT FUEL STORAGE FACILITY......................... 16,000 16,000 ..............
MACDILL AFB:
SOF JOINT SPECIAL OPS UNIVERSITY FACILITY [JSOU]........ 34,409 34,409 ..............
ARMY NATIONAL GUARD:
CAMP BLANDING:
COMBINED ARMS COLLECTIVE TRAINING FACILITY.............. 9,000 9,000 ..............
MIRAMAR:
READINESS CENTER........................................ 20,000 20,000 ..............
-----------------------------------------------
TOTAL, FLORIDA........................................ 157,834 157,834 ..............
GEORGIA
ARMY:
FORT BENNING:
GROUND SOURCE HEAT TRANSFER SYSTEM...................... 16,000 16,000 ..............
FORT GORDON:
GROUND SOURCE HEAT TRANSFER SYSTEM...................... 12,200 12,200 ..............
MODIFIED RECORD FIRE RANGE.............................. 4,000 4,000 ..............
MULTIPURPOSE MACHINE GUN RANGE.......................... 7,100 7,100 ..............
FORT STEWART:
AUTOMATED COMBAT PISTOL QUAL CRSE....................... 3,650 3,650 ..............
DIGITAL MULTIPURPOSE TRAINING RANGE..................... 22,000 22,000 ..............
UNMANNED AERIAL VEHICLE COMPLEX......................... 24,000 24,000 ..............
AIR FORCE:
FORT STEWART:
AIR SUPPORT OPERATIONS CENTER [SOC]..................... 7,250 7,250 ..............
MOODY AFB:
HC-130J SIMULATOR FACILITY.............................. 8,500 8,500 ..............
-----------------------------------------------
TOTAL, GEORGIA........................................ 104,700 104,700 ..............
HAWAII
ARMY:
POHAKULOA TRAINING AREA:
AUTOMATED INFANTRY PLATOON BATTLE COURSE................ 29,000 29,000 ..............
SCHOFIELD BARRACKS:
BARRACKS................................................ 41,000 41,000 ..............
BARRACKS................................................ 55,000 55,000 ..............
WHEELER ARMY AIR FIELD:
COMBAT AVIATION BRIGADE BARRACKS........................ 85,000 85,000 ..............
NAVY:
KANEOHE BAY:
AIRCRAFT STAGING AREA................................... 14,680 14,680 ..............
MV-22 HANGAR AND INFRASTRUCTURE......................... 82,630 82,630 ..............
DEFENSE-WIDE:
JOINT BASE PEARL HARBOR-HICKAM:
SOF SDVT-1 WATERFRONT OPERATIONS FACILITY............... 24,289 24,289 ..............
ARMY NATIONAL GUARD:
KAPOLEI:
ARMY AVIATION SUPPORT FACILITY PH1...................... 28,000 28,000 ..............
AIR NATIONAL GUARD:
JOINT BASE PEARL HARBOR-HICKAM:
TFI--F-22 COMBAT APRON ADDITION......................... 6,500 6,500 ..............
-----------------------------------------------
TOTAL, HAWAII......................................... 366,099 366,099 ..............
IDAHO
ARMY NATIONAL GUARD:
ORCHARD TRAINIG AREA:
ORTC (BARRACKS) PH2..................................... 40,000 40,000 ..............
-----------------------------------------------
TOTAL, IDAHO.......................................... 40,000 40,000 ..............
ILLINOIS
DEFENSE-WIDE:
GREAT LAKES:
DRUG LABORATORY REPLACEMENT............................. 28,700 28,700 ..............
SCOTT AFB:
DISA FACILITY UPGRADES.................................. 84,111 84,111 ..............
MEDICAL LOGISTICS WAREHOUSE............................. 2,600 2,600 ..............
ARMY RESERVE:
FORT SHERIDAN:
ARMY RESERVE CENTER..................................... 28,000 28,000 ..............
-----------------------------------------------
TOTAL, ILLINOIS....................................... 143,411 143,411 ..............
INDIANA
DEFENSE-WIDE:
GRISSOM ARB:
REPLACE HYDRANT FUEL SYSTEM............................. 26,800 26,800 ..............
ARMY NATIONAL GUARD:
SOUTH BEND:
ARMED FORCES RESERVE CENTER ADD/ALT..................... 21,000 21,000 ..............
TERRE HAUTE:
FIELD MAINTENANCE SHOP.................................. 9,000 9,000 ..............
-----------------------------------------------
TOTAL, INDIANA........................................ 56,800 56,800 ..............
IOWA
ARMY NATIONAL GUARD:
CAMP DODGE:
URBAN ASSAULT COURSE.................................... 3,000 3,000 ..............
NAVY RESERVE:
FORT DES MOINES:
JOINT RESERVE CENTER--DES MOINES IA..................... 19,162 19,162 ..............
-----------------------------------------------
TOTAL, IOWA........................................... 22,162 22,162 ..............
KANSAS
ARMY:
FORT RILEY:
UNMANNED AERIAL VEHICLE COMPLEX......................... 12,200 12,200 ..............
ARMY NATIONAL GUARD:
TOPEKA:
TAXIWAY, RAMP, AND HANGAR ALTERATIONS................... 9,500 9,500 ..............
-----------------------------------------------
TOTAL, KANSAS......................................... 21,700 21,700 ..............
KENTUCKY
ARMY:
FORT CAMPBELL:
BATTALION HEADQUARTERS COMPLEX.......................... 55,000 55,000 ..............
LIVE FIRE EXERCISE SHOOTHOUSE........................... 3,800 3,800 ..............
UNMANNED AERIAL VEHICLE COMPLEX......................... 23,000 23,000 ..............
FORT KNOX:
AUTOMATED INFANTRY SQUAD BATTLE COURSE.................. 6,000 6,000 ..............
DEFENSE-WIDE:
BLUE GRASS ARMY DEPOT:
AMMUNITION DEMILITARIZATION PH XIII..................... 115,000 115,000 ..............
FORT CAMPBELL:
REPLACE BARKLEY ELEMENTARY SCHOOL....................... 41,767 41,767 ..............
SOF GROUND SUPPORT BATTALION............................ 26,313 26,313 ..............
SOF LANDGRAF HANGAR EXTENSION........................... 3,559 3,559 ..............
ARMY NATIONAL GUARD:
FRANKFORT:
ARMY AVIATION SUPPORT FACILITY.......................... 32,000 32,000 ..............
-----------------------------------------------
TOTAL, KENTUCKY....................................... 306,439 306,439 ..............
LOUISIANA
DEFENSE-WIDE:
BARKSDALE AFB:
UPGRADE PUMPHOUSE....................................... 11,700 11,700 ..............
NAVY RESERVE:
NEW ORLEANS:
TRANSIENT QUARTERS...................................... 7,187 7,187 ..............
-----------------------------------------------
TOTAL, LOUISIANA...................................... 18,887 18,887 ..............
MARYLAND
DEFENSE-WIDE:
ANNAPOLIS:
HEALTH CLINIC REPLACEMENT............................... 66,500 66,500 ..............
BETHESDA NAVAL HOSPITAL:
BASE INSTALLATION ACCESS/APPEARANCE PLAN................ 7,000 7,000 ..............
ELECTRICAL CAPACITY AND COOLING TOWERS.................. 35,600 35,600 ..............
TEMPORARY MEDICAL FACILITIES............................ 26,600 26,600 ..............
FORT DETRICK:
USAMRIID STAGE I, INCR 7................................ 19,000 19,000 ..............
FORT MEADE:
HIGH PERFORMANCE COMPUTING CENTER INC 2................. 300,521 225,521 -75,000
NSAW RECAPITALIZE BUILDING #1/SITE M INC 1.............. 25,000 25,000 ..............
ARMY RESERVE:
ABERDEEN PROVING GROUND:
ARMY RESERVE CENTER..................................... 21,000 21,000 ..............
BALTIMORE:
ADD/ALT ARMY RESERVE CENTER............................. 10,000 10,000 ..............
-----------------------------------------------
TOTAL, MARYLAND....................................... 511,221 436,221 -75,000
MASSACHUSETTS
ARMY NATIONAL GUARD:
CAMP EDWARDS:
UNIT TRAINING EQUIPMENT SITE............................ 22,000 22,000 ..............
ARMY RESERVE:
DEVENS RESERVE FORCES TRAINING AREA:
AUTOMATIC RECORD FIRE RANGE............................. 4,800 4,800 ..............
COMBAT PISTOL/MP FIREARMS QUALIFICATION................. 3,700 3,700 ..............
-----------------------------------------------
TOTAL, MASSACHUSETTS.................................. 30,500 30,500 ..............
MINNESOTA
ARMY NATIONAL GUARD:
CAMP RIPLEY:
SCOUT RECONNAISANCE RANGE............................... 17,000 17,000 ..............
ST. PAUL:
READINESS CENTER........................................ 17,000 17,000 ..............
-----------------------------------------------
TOTAL, MINNESOTA...................................... 34,000 34,000 ..............
MISSISSIPPI
NAVY:
MERIDIAN:
DINING FACILITY......................................... 10,926 10,926 ..............
-----------------------------------------------
TOTAL, MISSISSIPPI.................................... 10,926 10,926 ..............
MISSOURI
ARMY:
FORT LEONARD WOOD:
BATTALION COMPLEX FACILITIES............................ 26,000 26,000 ..............
TRAINEE BARRACKS COMPLEX 3, PH 2........................ 58,000 58,000 ..............
VEHICLE MAINTENANCE SHOP................................ 39,000 39,000 ..............
DEFENSE-WIDE:
FORT LEONARD WOOD:
DENTAL CLINIC........................................... 18,100 18,100 ..............
ARMY NATIONAL GUARD:
FORT LEONARD WOOD:
REGIONAL TRAINING INSTITUTE............................. 18,000 18,000 ..............
KANSAS CITY:
READINESS CENTER ADD/ALT................................ 1,900 1,900 ..............
MONETT:
READINESS CENTER ADD/ALT................................ 820 820 ..............
PERRYVILLE:
READINESS CENTER ADD/ALT................................ 700 700 ..............
-----------------------------------------------
TOTAL, MISSOURI....................................... 162,520 162,520 ..............
MONTANA
ARMY NATIONAL GUARD:
MILES CITY:
READINESS CENTER........................................ 11,000 11,000 ..............
-----------------------------------------------
TOTAL, MONTANA........................................ 11,000 11,000 ..............
NEBRASKA
AIR FORCE:
OFFUTT AFB:
US STRATCOM REPLACEMENT FACILITY, INCR 2................ 161,000 128,000 -33,000
-----------------------------------------------
TOTAL, NEBRASKA....................................... 161,000 128,000 -33,000
NEVADA
ARMY RESERVE:
LAS VEGAS:
ARMY RESERVE CENTER/AMSA................................ 21,000 21,000 ..............
-----------------------------------------------
TOTAL, NEVADA......................................... 21,000 21,000 ..............
NEW JERSEY
ARMY:
JOINT BASE MCGUIRE-DIX-LAKEHURST:
FLIGHT EQUIPMENT COMPLEX................................ 47,000 47,000 ..............
PICATINNY ARSENAL:
BALLISTIC EVALUATION CENTER............................. 10,200 10,200 ..............
NAVY:
EARLE:
COMBAT SYSTEM ENGINEERING BUILDING ADDITION............. 33,498 33,498 ..............
ARMY NATIONAL GUARD:
SEA GIRT:
REGIONAL TRAINING INSTITUTE............................. 34,000 34,000 ..............
ARMY RESERVE:
JOINT BASE MCGUIRE-DIX-LAKEHURST:
AUTOMATED INFANTRY SQUAD BATTLE COURSE.................. 7,400 7,400 ..............
-----------------------------------------------
TOTAL, NEW JERSEY..................................... 132,098 132,098 ..............
NEW MEXICO
AIR FORCE:
HOLLOMAN AFB:
MQ-9 MAINTENANCE HANGAR................................. 25,000 25,000 ..............
DEFENSE-WIDE:
CANNON AFB:
MEDICAL/DENTAL CLINIC REPALCEMENT....................... 71,023 71,023 ..............
SOF AC-130J COMBAT PARKING APRON........................ 22,062 22,062 ..............
AIR NATIONAL GUARD:
KIRTLAND AFB:
ALTER TARGET INTELLIGENCE FACILITY...................... 8,500 8,500 ..............
-----------------------------------------------
TOTAL, NEW MEXICO..................................... 126,585 126,585 ..............
NEW YORK
ARMY:
FORT DRUM:
AIRCRAFT MAINTENANCE HANGAR............................. 95,000 95,000 ..............
U.S. MILITARY ACADEMY:
CADET BARRACKS.......................................... 192,000 86,000 -106,000
DEFENSE-WIDE:
FORT DRUM:
IDT COMPLEX............................................. 25,900 25,900 ..............
SOLDIER SPECIALTY CARE CLINIC........................... 17,300 17,300 ..............
ARMY NATIONAL GUARD:
STORMVILLE:
COMBINED SUPPORT MAINT SHOP PH1......................... 24,000 24,000 ..............
NAVY RESERVE:
BROOKLYN:
VEHICLE MAINTENANACE FACILITY--BROOKLYN, NEW YORK....... 4,430 4,430 ..............
AIR FORCE RESERVE:
NIAGARA FALLS IAP:
FLIGHT SIMULATOR FACILITY............................... 6,100 6,100 ..............
-----------------------------------------------
TOTAL, NEW YORK....................................... 364,730 258,730 -106,000
NORTH CAROLINA
ARMY:
FORT BRAGG:
AERIAL GUNNERY RANGE.................................... 42,000 42,000 ..............
INFRASTRUCTURE.......................................... 30,000 .............. -30,000
UNMANNED AERIAL VEHICLE COMPLEX......................... 26,000 26,000 ..............
NAVY:
CAMP LEJEUNE:
BASE ACCESS AND ROAD--PHASE 3........................... 40,904 40,904 ..............
STAFF NCO ACADEMY FACILITIES............................ 28,986 28,986 ..............
CHERRY POINT MARINE CORPS AIR STATION:
ARMORY.................................................. 11,581 11,581 ..............
MARINE AIR SUPPORT SQUADRON COMPOUND.................... 34,310 34,310 ..............
NEW RIVER:
PERSONNEL ADMINISTRATION CENTER......................... 8,525 8,525 ..............
DEFENSE-WIDE:
CAMP LEJEUNE:
MEDICAL CLINIC REPLACEMENT.............................. 21,200 21,200 ..............
SOF MARINE BATTALION COMPANY/TEAM FACILITIES............ 53,399 53,399 ..............
SOF SURVIVAL EVASION RESISTANCE ESCAPE TRAINING FACILITY 5,465 5,465 ..............
FORT BRAGG:
SOF BATTALION OPERATIONS FACILITY....................... 40,481 50,481 +10,000
SOF CIVIL AFFAIRS BATTALION COMPLEX..................... 31,373 41,373 +10,000
SOF SUPPORT ADDITION.................................... 3,875 3,875 ..............
SOF SUSTAINMENT BRIGADE COMPLEX......................... 24,693 34,693 +10,000
SEYMOUR JOHNSON AFB:
MEDICAL CLINIC REPLACEMENT.............................. 53,600 53,600 ..............
REPLACE PIPELINE........................................ 1,850 1,850 ..............
-----------------------------------------------
TOTAL, NORTH CAROLINA................................. 458,242 458,242 ..............
NORTH DAKOTA
AIR FORCE:
MINOT AFB:
B-52 ADD/ALTER MUNITIONS AGE FACILITY................... 4,600 4,600 ..............
-----------------------------------------------
TOTAL, NORTH DAKOTA................................... 4,600 4,600 ..............
OHIO
ARMY NATIONAL GUARD:
CHILLICOTHE:
FIELD MAINTENANCE SHOP ADD/ALT.......................... 3,100 3,100 ..............
DELAWARE:
READINESS CENTER........................................ 12,000 12,000 ..............
-----------------------------------------------
TOTAL, OHIO........................................... 15,100 15,100 ..............
OKLAHOMA
ARMY:
FORT SILL:
MODIFIED RECORD FIRE RANGE.............................. 4,900 4,900 ..............
ARMY NATIONAL GUARD:
CAMP GRUBER:
OPERATIONS READINESS TRAINING COMPLEX................... 25,000 25,000 ..............
-----------------------------------------------
TOTAL, OKLAHOMA....................................... 29,900 29,900 ..............
PENNSYLVANIA
DEFENSE-WIDE:
DEF DISTRIBUTION DEPOT NEW CUMBERLAND:
REPLACE COMMUNICATIONS BUILDING......................... 6,800 6,800 ..............
REPLACE RESERVOIR....................................... 4,300 4,300 ..............
REPLACE SEWAGE TREATMENT PLANT.......................... 6,300 6,300 ..............
-----------------------------------------------
TOTAL, PENNSYLVANIA................................... 17,400 17,400 ..............
SOUTH CAROLINA
ARMY:
FORT JACKSON:
TRAINEE BARRACKS COMPLEX 2, PH 2........................ 24,000 24,000 ..............
NAVY:
BEAUFORT:
AIRCRAFT MAINTENANCE HANGAR............................. 42,010 42,010 ..............
AIRFIELD SECURITY UPGRADES.............................. 13,675 13,675 ..............
GROUND SUPPORT EQUIPMENT SHOP........................... 9,465 9,465 ..............
RECYCLING/HAZARDOUS WASTE FACILITY...................... 3,743 3,743 ..............
SIMULATED LHD FLIGHT DECK............................... 12,887 12,887 ..............
PARRIS ISLAND:
FRONT GATE ATFP IMPROVEMENTS............................ 10,135 10,135 ..............
DEFENSE-WIDE:
SHAW AFB:
MEDICAL CLINIC REPLACEMENT.............................. 57,200 57,200 ..............
-----------------------------------------------
TOTAL, SOUTH CAROLINA................................. 173,115 173,115 ..............
TEXAS
ARMY:
CORPUS CHRISTI:
AIRCRAFT COMPONENT MAINTENANCE SHOP..................... 13,200 13,200 ..............
AIRCRAFT PAINT SHOP..................................... 24,000 24,000 ..............
FORT BLISS:
MULTIPURPOSE MACHINE GUN RANGE.......................... 7,200 7,200 ..............
FORT HOOD:
MODIFIED RECORD FIRE RANGE.............................. 4,200 4,200 ..............
TRAINING AIDS CENTER.................................... 25,000 25,000 ..............
UNMANNED AERIAL VEHICLE COMPLEX......................... 22,000 22,000 ..............
JOINT BASE SAN ANTONIO:
BARRACKS................................................ 21,000 21,000 ..............
AIR FORCE:
JOINT BASE SAN ANTONIO:
DORMITORY (144 RM)...................................... 18,000 18,000 ..............
DEFENSE-WIDE:
FORT BLISS:
HOSPITAL REPLACEMENT INCR 4............................. 207,400 107,400 -100,000
JOINT BASE SAN ANTONIO:
AMBULATORY CARE CENTER PHASE 3 INCR..................... 80,700 80,700 ..............
RED RIVER ARMY DEPOT:
DFAS FACILITY........................................... 16,715 16,715 ..............
NAVY RESERVE:
FORT WORTH:
COMMERCIAL VEHICLE INSPECTION SITE...................... 11,256 11,256 ..............
-----------------------------------------------
TOTAL, TEXAS.......................................... 450,671 350,671 -100,000
UTAH
AIR FORCE:
HILL AFB:
F-35 ADAL BUILDING 118 FOR FLIGHT SIMULATOR............. 4,000 4,000 ..............
F-35 ADAL HANGAR 45W/AMU................................ 7,250 7,250 ..............
F-35 MODULAR STORAGE MAGAZINES.......................... 2,280 2,280 ..............
DEFENSE-WIDE:
CAMP WILLIAMS:
IC CNCI DATA CENTER 1 INC 4............................. 191,414 191,414 ..............
ARMY NATIONAL GUARD:
CAMP WILLIAMS:
BEQ FACILITY (REGIONAL TRAINING INSTITUTE).............. 15,000 15,000 ..............
REGIONAL TRAINING INSTITUTE PH2......................... 21,000 21,000 ..............
-----------------------------------------------
TOTAL, UTAH........................................... 240,944 240,944 ..............
VIRGINIA
ARMY:
ARLINGTON:
CEMETERY EXPANSION MILLENNIUM SITE...................... 84,000 .............. -84,000
FORT BELVOIR:
SECURE ADMIN/OPERATIONS FACILITY........................ 94,000 94,000 ..............
FORT LEE:
ADV INDIVIDUAL TRAINING BARRACKS COMPLEX, PH2........... 81,000 81,000 ..............
NAVY:
DAHLGREN:
CRUISER/DESTROYER UPGRADE TRAINING FACILITY............. 16,494 16,494 ..............
PHYSICAL FITNESS CENTER................................. 11,734 11,734 ..............
OCEANA NAVAL AIR STATION:
A SCHOOL BARRACKS....................................... 39,086 39,086 ..............
PORTSMOUTH:
DRYDOCK 8 ELECTRICAL DISTRIBUTION UPGRADE............... 32,706 32,706 ..............
QUANTICO:
INFRASTRUTURE--WIDEN RUSSELL ROAD....................... 14,826 14,826 ..............
THE BASIC SCHOOL STUDENT QUARTERS--PHASE 7.............. 31,012 31,012 ..............
WEAPONS TRAINING BATTALION MESS HALL.................... 12,876 12,876 ..............
YORKTOWN:
ARMORY.................................................. 4,259 4,259 ..............
BACHELOR ENLISTED QUARTERS.............................. 18,422 18,422 ..............
MOTOR TRANSPORTATION FACILITY........................... 6,188 6,188 ..............
REGIMENTAL HEADQUARTERS................................. 11,015 11,015 ..............
SUPPLY WAREHOUSE FACILITY............................... 8,939 8,939 ..............
DEFENSE-WIDE:
JOINT EXPEDITIONARY BASE LITTLE CREEK--STORY:
SOF COMBAT SERVICES SUPPORT FACILITY--EAST.............. 11,132 11,132 ..............
NORFOLK:
VETERINARY FACILITY REPLACEMENT......................... 8,500 8,500 ..............
-----------------------------------------------
TOTAL, VIRGINIA....................................... 486,189 402,189 -84,000
WASHINGTON
ARMY:
JOINT BASE LEWIS-MCCHORD:
BATTALION COMPLEX....................................... 73,000 73,000 ..............
WASTE WATER TREATMENT PLANT............................. 91,000 91,000 ..............
YAKIMA:
CONVOY LIVE FIRE RANGE.................................. 5,100 5,100 ..............
NAVY:
KITSAP:
EXPLOSIVES HANDLING WHARF #2 (INC)...................... 280,041 254,200 -25,841
WHIDBEY ISLAND:
EA-18G FLIGHT SIMULATOR FACILITY........................ 6,272 6,272 ..............
DEFENSE-WIDE:
FORT LEWIS:
SOF BATTALION OPERATIONS FACILITY....................... 46,553 46,553 ..............
SOF MILITARY WORKING DOG KENNEL......................... 3,967 3,967 ..............
ARMY NATIONAL GUARD:
FORT LEWIS:
READINESS CENTER........................................ 35,000 35,000 ..............
ARMY RESERVE:
JOINT BASE LEWIS-MCCHORD:
ARMY RESERVE CENTER..................................... 40,000 40,000 ..............
-----------------------------------------------
TOTAL, WASHINGTON..................................... 580,933 555,092 -25,841
WEST VIRGINIA
ARMY NATIONAL GUARD:
LOGAN:
READINESS CENTER........................................ 14,200 14,200 ..............
-----------------------------------------------
TOTAL, WEST VIRGINIA.................................. 14,200 14,200 ..............
WISCONSIN
ARMY NATIONAL GUARD:
WAUSAU:
FIELD MAINTENANCE SHOP.................................. 10,000 10,000 ..............
ARMY RESERVE:
FORT MCCOY:
CENTRAL ISSUE FACILITY.................................. 12,200 12,200 ..............
DINING FACILITY......................................... 8,600 8,600 ..............
ECS TACTICAL EQUIPMENT MAINTENANCE FACILTY [TEMF]....... 27,000 27,000 ..............
-----------------------------------------------
TOTAL, WISCONSIN...................................... 57,800 57,800 ..............
WYOMING
AIR NATIONAL GUARD:
CHEYENNE MAP:
C-130 FLIGHT SIMULATOR TRAINING FACILITY................ 6,486 6,486 ..............
-----------------------------------------------
TOTAL, WYOMING........................................ 6,486 6,486 ..............
BAHRAIN ISLAND
NAVY:
SW ASIA:
COMBINED DINING FACILITY................................ 9,819 9,819 ..............
TRANSIENT QUARTERS...................................... 41,529 41,529 ..............
-----------------------------------------------
TOTAL, BAHRAIN ISLAND................................. 51,348 51,348 ..............
BELGIUM
DEFENSE-WIDE:
BRUSSELS:
NATO HEADQUARTERS FACILITY.............................. 26,969 26,969 ..............
-----------------------------------------------
TOTAL, BELGIUM........................................ 26,969 26,969 ..............
DIEGO GARCIA
NAVY:
DIEGO GARCIA:
COMMUNICATIONS INFRASTRUCTURE........................... 1,691 1,691 ..............
-----------------------------------------------
TOTAL, DIEGO GARCIA................................... 1,691 1,691 ..............
DJIBOUTI
NAVY:
CAMP LEMONIER:
CONTAINERIZED LIVING AND WORK UNITS..................... 7,510 7,510 ..............
FITNESS CENTER.......................................... 26,960 26,960 ..............
GALLEY ADDITION AND WAREHOUSE........................... 22,220 22,220 ..............
JOINT HQ/JOINT OPERATIONS CENTER FACILITY............... 42,730 42,730 ..............
-----------------------------------------------
TOTAL, DJIBOUTI....................................... 99,420 99,420 ..............
GERMANY
DEFENSE-WIDE:
RHINE ORDNANCE BARRACKS:
MEDICAL CENTER REPLACEMENT INCR 2....................... 127,000 127,000 ..............
STUTTGART-PATCH BARRACKS:
DISA EUROPE FACILITY UPGRADES........................... 2,413 2,413 ..............
VOGELWEH:
REPLACE VOGELWEH ELEMENTARY SCHOOL...................... 61,415 61,415 ..............
WEISBADEN:
WEISBADEN HIGH SCHOOL ADDITION.......................... 52,178 52,178 ..............
-----------------------------------------------
TOTAL, GERMANY........................................ 243,006 243,006 ..............
GREECE
NAVY:
SOUDA BAY:
AIRCRAFT PARKING APRON EXPANSION........................ 20,493 20,493 ..............
INTERMODAL ACCESS ROAD.................................. 4,630 4,630 ..............
-----------------------------------------------
TOTAL, GREECE......................................... 25,123 25,123 ..............
GREENLAND
AIR FORCE:
THULE AB:
DORMITORY (48 PN)....................................... 24,500 24,500 ..............
-----------------------------------------------
TOTAL, GREENLAND...................................... 24,500 24,500 ..............
GUAM
NAVY:
JOINT REGION MARIANAS:
NORTH RAMP PARKING (ANDERSEN AFB)--INC 2................ 25,904 .............. -25,904
DEFENSE-WIDE:
ANDERSEN AFB:
UPGRADE FUEL PIPELINE................................... 67,500 .............. -67,500
ARMY NATIONAL GUARD:
BARRIGADA:
JFHQ PH4................................................ 8,500 8,500 ..............
-----------------------------------------------
TOTAL, GUAM........................................... 101,904 8,500 -93,404
GUANTANAMO BAY, CUBA
DEFENSE-WIDE:
GUANTANAMO BAY:
REPLACE FUEL PIER....................................... 37,600 37,600 ..............
REPLACE TRUCK LOAD FACILITY............................. 2,600 2,600 ..............
-----------------------------------------------
TOTAL, GUANTANAMO BAY, CUBA........................... 40,200 40,200 ..............
ITALY
ARMY:
CAMP EDERLE:
BARRACKS................................................ 36,000 36,000 ..............
VICENZA:
SIMULATIONS CENTER...................................... 32,000 32,000 ..............
AIR FORCE:
AVIANO AB:
F-16 MISSION TRAINING CENTER............................ 9,400 9,400 ..............
-----------------------------------------------
TOTAL, ITALY.......................................... 77,400 77,400 ..............
JAPAN
ARMY:
OKINAWA:
SATELLITE COMMUNICATIONS FACILITY....................... 78,000 78,000 ..............
SAGAMI:
VEHICLE MAINTENANCE SHOP................................ 18,000 18,000 ..............
NAVY:
IWAKUNI:
MAINTENANCE HANGAR IMPROVEMENTS......................... 5,722 5,722 ..............
VERTICAL TAKE-OFF AND LANDING PAD NORTH................. 7,416 7,416 ..............
OKINAWA:
BACHELOR QUARTERS....................................... 8,206 8,206 ..............
DEFENSE-WIDE:
CAMP ZAMA:
RENOVATE ZAMA HIGH SCHOOL............................... 13,273 13,273 ..............
KADENA AB:
REPLACE ELEMENTARY SCHOOL............................... 71,772 71,772 ..............
REPLACE STEARLEY HEIGHTS ELEMENTARY SCHOOL.............. 71,773 71,773 ..............
SASEBO:
REPLACE SASEBO ELEMENTARY SCHOOL........................ 35,733 35,733 ..............
ZUKERAN:
REPLACE ZUKERAN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL....................... 79,036 79,036 ..............
-----------------------------------------------
TOTAL, JAPAN.......................................... 388,931 388,931 ..............
KOREA
ARMY:
CAMP HUMPHREYS:
BATTALION HEADQUARTERS COMPLEX.......................... 45,000 45,000 ..............
DEFENSE-WIDE:
KUNSAN AIR BASE:
MEDICAL/DENTAL CLINIC ADDITION.......................... 13,000 13,000 ..............
OSAN AFB:
HOSPITAL ADDITION/ALTERATION............................ 34,600 34,600 ..............
REPLACE OSAN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL.......................... 42,692 42,692 ..............
-----------------------------------------------
TOTAL, KOREA.......................................... 135,292 135,292 ..............
PUERTO RICO
ARMY NATIONAL GUARD:
CAMP SANTIAGO:
READINESS CENTER........................................ 3,800 3,800 ..............
CEIBA:
REFILL STATION BUILDING................................. 2,200 2,200 ..............
GUAYNABO:
READINESS CENTER [JFHQ]................................. 15,000 15,000 ..............
GURABO:
READINESS CENTER........................................ 14,700 14,700 ..............
-----------------------------------------------
TOTAL, PUERTO RICO.................................... 35,700 35,700 ..............
ROMANIA
NAVY:
DEVESELU, ROMANIA:
AEGIS ASHORE MISSILE DEFENSE COMPLEX.................... 45,205 45,205 ..............
DEFENSE-WIDE:
DEVESELU, ROMANIA:
AEGIS ASHORE MISSILE DEFENSE SYSTEM COMPLEX............. 157,900 157,900 ..............
-----------------------------------------------
TOTAL, ROMANIA........................................ 203,105 203,105 ..............
SPAIN
NAVY:
ROTA:
GENERAL PURPOSE WAREHOUSE............................... 3,378 3,378 ..............
HIGH EXPLOSIVE MAGAZINE................................. 13,837 13,837 ..............
-----------------------------------------------
TOTAL, SPAIN.......................................... 17,215 17,215 ..............
UNITED KINGDOM
DEFENSE-WIDE:
MENWITH HILL STATION:
MHS UTILITIES AND ROADS................................. 3,795 3,795 ..............
REPLACE MENWITH HILL ELEMENTARY/HIGH SCHOOL............. 46,488 46,488 ..............
RAF FELTWELL:
FELTWELL ELEMENTARY SCHOOL ADDITION..................... 30,811 30,811 ..............
RAF MILDENHALL:
SOF CV-22 SIMULATOR FACILITY............................ 6,490 6,490 ..............
-----------------------------------------------
TOTAL, UNITED KINGDOM................................. 87,584 87,584 ..............
NATO SECURITY INVESTMENT PROGRAM................................ 254,163 254,163 ..............
WORLDWIDE UNSPECIFIED
ARMY:
HOST NATION SUPPORT......................................... 34,000 34,000 ..............
MINOR CONSTRUCTION.......................................... 25,000 25,000 ..............
PLANNING AND DESIGN......................................... 65,173 46,173 -19,000
NAVY:
PLANNING AND DESIGN......................................... 102,619 102,619 ..............
MINOR CONSTRUCTION.......................................... 16,535 16,535 ..............
BAMS OPERATIONAL FACILITIES................................. 34,048 34,048 ..............
AIR FORCE:
PLANNING AND DESIGN......................................... 18,635 18,635 ..............
MINOR CONSTRUCTION.......................................... 18,200 18,200 ..............
SANITARY SEWER LIFT/PUMP STATION............................ 2,000 2,000 ..............
TRANSIENT CONTINGENCY DORMITORY............................. 17,625 .............. -17,625
TRANSIENT AIRCRAFT HANGARS.................................. 15,032 .............. -15,032
DEFENSE-WIDE:
CONTINGENCY CONSTRUCTION.................................... 10,000 10,000 ..............
ENERGY CONSERVATION INVESTMENT PROGRAM...................... 150,000 150,000 ..............
PLANNING AND DESIGN:
DEFENSE LEVEL ACTIVITIES................................ 47,978 37,978 -10,000
DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE DEPENDENT EDUCATION............... 105,569 105,569 ..............
ENERGY CONSERVATION INVESTMENT PROGRAM.................. .............. 10,000 +10,000
NATIONAL SECURITY AGENCY................................ 8,300 8,300 ..............
SPECIAL OPERATIONS COMMAND.............................. 27,620 27,620 ..............
TRICARE MANAGEMENT ACTIVITY............................. 105,700 105,700 ..............
WASHINGTON HEADQUARTERS SERVICE......................... 7,928 7,928 ..............
MISSILE DEFENSE AGENCY.................................. 4,548 4,548 ..............
DEFENSE INTELLIGENCE AGENCY............................. 2,919 2,919 ..............
DEFENSE LOGISTICS AGENCY................................ 5,000 5,000 ..............
-----------------------------------------------
SUBTOTAL, PLANNING AND DESIGN......................... 315,562 315,562 ..............
UNSPECIFIED MINOR CONSTRUCTION:
DEFENSE LOGISTICS AGENCY................................ 7,254 7,254 ..............
DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE DEPENDENT EDUCATION............... 4,091 4,091 ..............
NATIONAL SECURITY AGENCY................................ 3,000 3,000 ..............
JOINT CHIEFS OF STAFF................................... 6,440 6,440 ..............
SPECIAL OPERATIONS COMMAND.............................. 10,000 10,000 ..............
TRICARE MANAGEMENT ACTIVITY............................. 5,000 5,000 ..............
DEFENSE LEVEL ACTIVITIES................................ 3,000 3,000 ..............
-----------------------------------------------
SUBTOTAL, UNSPECIFIED MINOR CONSTRUCTION.............. 38,785 38,785 ..............
ARMY NATIONAL GUARD:
PLANNING AND DESIGN......................................... 26,622 26,622 ..............
MINOR CONSTRUCTION.......................................... 15,057 15,057 ..............
AIR NATIONAL GUARD:
PLANNING AND DESIGN......................................... 4,000 4,000 ..............
MINOR CONSTRUCTION.......................................... 5,900 5,900 ..............
ARMY RESERVE:
PLANNING AND DESIGN......................................... 15,951 15,951 ..............
MINOR CONSTRUCTION.......................................... 10,895 10,895 ..............
NAVY RESERVE:
PLANNING AND DESIGN......................................... 2,118 2,118 ..............
MINOR CONSTRUCTION.......................................... .............. .............. ..............
AIR FORCE RESERVE:
PLANNING AND DESIGN......................................... 2,879 2,879 ..............
MINOR CONSTRUCTION.......................................... 2,000 2,000 ..............
FAMILY HOUSING, ARMY
PLANNING AND DESIGN............................................. 4,641 4,641 ..............
-----------------------------------------------
SUBTOTAL, CONSTRUCTION.................................... 4,641 4,641 ..............
OPERATION AND MAINTENANCE:
UTILITIES ACCOUNT........................................... 88,112 88,112 ..............
SERVICES ACCOUNT............................................ 13,487 13,487 ..............
MANAGEMENT ACCOUNT.......................................... 56,970 56,970 ..............
MISCELLANEOUS ACCOUNT....................................... 620 620 ..............
FURNISHINGS ACCOUNT......................................... 31,785 31,785 ..............
LEASING..................................................... 203,533 203,533 ..............
MAINTENANCE OF REAL PROPERTY................................ 109,534 109,534 ..............
PRIVATIZATION SUPPORT COSTS................................. 26,010 26,010 ..............
-----------------------------------------------
SUBTOTAL, OPERATION AND MAINTENANCE....................... 530,051 530,051 ..............
FAMILY HOUSING, NAVY AND MARINE CORPS
CONSTRUCTION IMPROVEMENTS....................................... 97,655 97,655 ..............
PLANNING AND DESIGN............................................. 4,527 4,527 ..............
-----------------------------------------------
SUBTOTAL, CONSTRUCTION.................................... 102,182 102,182 ..............
OPERATION AND MAINTENANCE:
UTILITIES ACCOUNT........................................... 80,860 80,860 ..............
SERVICES ACCOUNT............................................ 19,615 19,615 ..............
MANAGEMENT ACCOUNT.......................................... 62,741 62,741 ..............
MISCELLANEOUS ACCOUNT....................................... 491 491 ..............
FURNISHINGS ACCOUNT......................................... 17,697 17,697 ..............
LEASING..................................................... 83,774 83,774 ..............
MAINTENANCE OF REAL PROPERTY................................ 85,254 85,254 ..............
PRIVATIZATION SUPPORT COSTS................................. 27,798 27,798 ..............
-----------------------------------------------
SUBTOTAL, OPERATION AND MAINTENANCE....................... 378,230 378,230 ..............
FAMILY HOUSING, AIR FORCE
CONSTRUCTION IMPROVEMENTS....................................... 79,571 79,571 ..............
PLANNING AND DESIGN............................................. 4,253 4,253 ..............
-----------------------------------------------
SUBTOTAL, CONSTRUCTION.................................... 83,824 83,824 ..............
OPERATION AND MAINTENANCE:
UTILITIES ACCOUNT........................................... 75,662 75,662 ..............
MANAGEMENT ACCOUNT.......................................... 55,002 55,002 ..............
SERVICES ACCOUNT............................................ 16,550 16,550 ..............
FURNISHINGS ACCOUNT......................................... 37,878 37,878 ..............
MISCELLANEOUS ACCOUNT....................................... 1,943 1,943 ..............
LEASING..................................................... 62,730 62,730 ..............
MAINTENANCE................................................. 201,937 201,937 ..............
PRIVATIZATION SUPPORT COSTS................................. 46,127 46,127 ..............
-----------------------------------------------
SUBTOTAL, OPERATION AND MAINTENANCE....................... 497,829 497,829 ..............
FAMILY HOUSING, DEFENSE-WIDE
OPERATION AND MAINTENANCE:
NATIONAL SECURITY AGENCY:
UTILITIES............................................... 12 12 ..............
FURNISHING.............................................. 66 66 ..............
LEASING................................................. 10,822 10,822 ..............
MAINTENANCE OF REAL PROPERTY............................ 73 73 ..............
DEFENSE INTELLIGENCE AGENCY:
FURNISHINGS............................................. 4,660 4,660 ..............
LEASING................................................. 35,333 35,333 ..............
DEFENSE LOGISTICS AGENCY:
UTILITIES............................................... 283 283 ..............
FURNISHINGS............................................. 422 422 ..............
MAINTENANCE OF REAL PROPERTY............................ 567 567 ..............
-----------------------------------------------
SUBTOTAL, OPERATION AND MAINTENANCE................... 52,238 52,238 ..............
DOD FAMILY HOUSING IMPROVEMENT FUND............................. 1,786 1,786 ..............
HOMEOWNERS ASSISTANCE PROGRAM................................... .............. .............. ..............
BASE REALIGNMENT AND CLOSURE
BASE REALIGNMENT AND CLOSURE ACCOUNT, 1990...................... 349,396 349,396 ..............
BASE REALIGNMENT AND CLOSURE ACCOUNT, 2005...................... 126,697 126,697 ..............
-----------------------------------------------
SUBTOTAL, BRAC............................................ 476,093 476,093 ..............
RECAP
ARMY............................................................ 1,923,323 1,684,323 -239,000
NAVY AND MARINE CORPS........................................... 1,701,985 1,650,240 -51,745
AIR FORCE....................................................... 388,200 322,543 -65,657
DEFENSE-WIDE.................................................... 3,654,623 3,442,123 -212,500
ARMY NATIONAL GUARD............................................. 613,799 613,799 ..............
AIR NATIONAL GUARD.............................................. 42,386 42,386 ..............
ARMY RESERVE.................................................... 305,846 305,846 ..............
NAVY RESERVE.................................................... 49,532 49,532 ..............
AIR FORCE RESERVE............................................... 10,979 10,979 ..............
NATO............................................................ 254,163 254,163 ..............
CHEMICAL DEMILITARIZATION CONSTRUCTION, DEFENSE-WIDE............ 151,000 151,000 ..............
DOD FAMILY HOUSING IMPROVEMENT FUND............................. 1,786 1,786 ..............
FAMILY HOUSING, ARMY............................................ 534,692 534,692 ..............
FAMILY HOUSING, NAVY AND MARINE CORPS........................... 480,412 480,412 ..............
FAMILY HOUSING, AIR FORCE....................................... 581,653 581,653 ..............
FAMILY HOUSING, DEFENSE-WIDE.................................... 52,238 52,238 ..............
BRAC............................................................ 476,093 476,093 ..............
-----------------------------------------------
GRAND TOTAL............................................... 11,222,710 10,653,808 -568,902
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
COMPARATIVE STATEMENT OF NEW BUDGET (OBLIGATIONAL) AUTHORITY FOR FISCAL YEAR 2012 AND BUDGET ESTIMATES AND AMOUNTS RECOMMENDED IN THE BILL FOR FISCAL
YEAR 2013
[In thousands of dollars]
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Senate Committee recommendation
compared with (+ or -)
Item 2012 Budget estimate Committee ---------------------------------
appropriation recommendation 2012
appropriation Budget estimate
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
TITLE I--DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE
Military construction, Army........................................ 3,006,491 1,923,323 1,684,323 -1,322,168 -239,000
Military construction, Navy and Marine Corps....................... 2,112,823 1,701,985 1,650,240 -462,583 -51,745
Military construction, Air Force................................... 1,227,058 388,200 322,543 -904,515 -65,657
Military construction, Defense-Wide................................ 3,431,957 3,654,623 3,442,123 +10,166 -212,500
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Total, Active components..................................... 9,778,329 7,668,131 7,099,229 -2,679,100 -568,902
====================================================================================
Military construction, Army National Guard......................... 773,592 613,799 613,799 -159,793 ...............
Military construction, Air National Guard.......................... 116,246 42,386 42,386 -73,860 ...............
Military construction, Army Reserve................................ 280,549 305,846 305,846 +25,297 ...............
Military construction, Navy Reserve................................ 26,299 49,532 49,532 +23,233 ...............
Military construction, Air Force Reserve........................... 33,620 10,979 10,979 -22,641 ...............
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Total, Reserve components.................................... 1,230,306 1,022,542 1,022,542 -207,764 ...............
====================================================================================
Total, Military construction................................. 11,008,635 8,690,673 8,121,771 -2,886,864 -568,902
North Atlantic Treaty Organization Security Investment Program..... 247,611 254,163 254,163 +6,552 ...............
Family housing construction, Army.................................. 176,897 4,641 4,641 -172,256 ...............
Family housing operation and maintenance, Army..................... 493,458 530,051 530,051 +36,593 ...............
Family housing construction, Navy and Marine Corps................. 100,972 102,182 102,182 +1,210 ...............
Family housing operation and maintenance, Navy and Marine Corps.... 367,863 378,230 378,230 +10,367 ...............
Family housing construction, Air Force............................. 60,042 83,824 83,824 +23,782 ...............
Family housing operation and maintenance, Air Force................ 429,523 497,829 497,829 +68,306 ...............
Family housing operation and maintenance, Defense-Wide............. 50,723 52,238 52,238 +1,515 ...............
Department of Defense Family Housing Improvement Fund.............. 2,184 1,786 1,786 -398 ...............
Homeowners assistance fund......................................... 1,284 ............... ............... -1,284 ...............
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Total, Family housing........................................ 1,682,946 1,650,781 1,650,781 -32,165 ...............
====================================================================================
Chemical demilitarization construction, Defense-Wide............... 75,312 151,000 151,000 +75,688 ...............
Base realignment and closure:
Base realignment and closure account, 1990..................... 323,543 349,396 349,396 +25,853 ...............
Base realignment and closure account, 2005..................... 258,776 126,697 126,697 -132,079 ...............
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Total, Base realignment and closure.......................... 582,319 476,093 476,093 -106,226 ...............
Rescissions (Sec. 131):
Military Construction, Army.................................... -100,000 ............... ............... +100,000 ...............
Military Construction, Navy and Marine Corps................... -25,000 ............... ............... +25,000 ...............
Military Construction, Air Force............................... -32,000 ............... ............... +32,000 ...............
Military Construction, Defense-Wide............................ -131,400 ............... ............... +131,400 ...............
Rescission (Sec. 132):
Base Realignment and Closure, 2005............................. -258,776 ............... ............... +258,776 ...............
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Total, title I, Department of Defense........................ 13,049,647 11,222,710 10,653,808 -2,395,839 -568,902
Appropriations........................................... (13,596,823) (11,222,710) (10,653,808) (-2,943,015) (-568,902)
Rescissions.............................................. (-547,176) ............... ............... (+547,176) ...............
====================================================================================
TITLE II--DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS
Veterans Benefits Administration
Compensation and pensions.......................................... 51,237,567 61,741,232 61,741,232 +10,503,665 ...............
Readjustment benefits.............................................. 12,108,488 12,607,476 12,607,476 +498,988 ...............
Veterans insurance and indemnities................................. 100,252 104,600 104,600 +4,348 ...............
Veterans housing benefit program fund:.............................
(indefinite)................................................... 318,612 184,859 184,859 -133,753 ...............
(Limitation on direct loans)............................... (500) (500) (500) ............... ...............
Administrative expenses.................................... 154,698 157,814 157,814 +3,116 ...............
Vocational rehabilitation loans program account.................... 19 19 19 ............... ...............
(Limitation on direct loans)................................... (3,019) (2,729) (2,729) (-290) ...............
Administrative expenses........................................ 343 346 346 +3 ...............
Native American veteran housing loan program account............... 1,116 1,089 1,089 -27 ...............
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Total, Veterans Benefits Administration...................... 63,921,095 74,797,435 74,797,435 +10,876,340 ...............
Veterans Health Administration
Medical services:
Advance from prior year........................................ (39,649,985) (41,354,000) (41,354,000) (+1,704,015) ...............
Current year request........................................... ............... 165,000 155,000 +155,000 -10,000
Advance appropriation, fiscal year 2014........................ 41,354,000 43,557,000 43,557,000 +2,203,000 ...............
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Subtotal..................................................... 41,354,000 43,722,000 43,712,000 +2,358,000 -10,000
Medical support and compliance:
Advance from prior year........................................ (5,535,000) (5,746,000) (5,746,000) (+211,000) ...............
Advance appropriation, fiscal year 2014........................ 5,746,000 6,033,000 6,033,000 +287,000 ...............
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Subtotal..................................................... 5,746,000 6,033,000 6,033,000 +287,000 ...............
Medical facilities:
Advance from prior year........................................ (5,426,000) (5,441,000) (5,441,000) (+15,000) ...............
Advance appropriation, fiscal year 2014........................ 5,441,000 4,872,000 4,872,000 -569,000 ...............
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Subtotal..................................................... 5,441,000 4,872,000 4,872,000 -569,000 ...............
Medical and prosthetic research.................................... 581,000 582,674 582,674 +1,674 ...............
Medical care cost recovery collections:
Offsetting collections......................................... -3,326,000 -2,527,000 -2,527,000 +799,000 ...............
Appropriations (indefinite).................................... 3,326,000 2,527,000 2,527,000 -799,000 ...............
DoD-VA Joint Medical Funds (transfers out)......................... ............... (-280,000) (-280,000) (-280,000) ...............
DoD-VA Joint Medical Funds (by transfer)........................... ............... (280,000) (280,000) (+280,000) ...............
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Total, Veterans Health Administration........................ 53,122,000 55,209,674 55,199,674 +2,077,674 -10,000
Appropriations........................................... (581,000) (747,674) (737,674) (+156,674) (-10,000)
Advance from prior year.................................. (50,610,985) (52,541,000) (52,541,000) (+1,930,015) ...............
Advance appropriations, fiscal year 2014................. (52,541,000) (54,462,000) (54,462,000) (+1,921,000) ...............
National Cemetery Administration
National Cemetery Administration................................... 250,934 258,284 258,284 +7,350 ...............
Departmental Administration
General administration............................................. 416,737 416,737 424,737 +8,000 +8,000
General operating expenses, VBA.................................... 2,018,764 2,164,074 2,164,074 +145,310 ...............
Information technology systems..................................... 3,111,376 3,327,444 3,327,444 +216,068 ...............
Office of Inspector General........................................ 112,391 113,000 115,000 +2,609 +2,000
Construction, major projects....................................... 589,604 532,470 532,470 -57,134 ...............
Construction, minor projects....................................... 482,386 607,530 607,530 +125,144 ...............
Grants for construction of State extended care facilities.......... 85,000 85,000 85,000 ............... ...............
Grants for the construction of veterans cemeteries................. 46,000 46,000 46,000 ............... ...............
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Total, Departmental Administration........................... 6,862,258 7,292,255 7,302,255 +439,997 +10,000
GENERAL PROVISIONS
Medical services (Sec. 227)........................................ 1,400,000 1,400,000 1,500,000 +100,000 +100,000
(Rescission)................................................... -1,400,000 -1,400,000 -1,500,000 -100,000 -100,000
Medical support and compliance (Sec. 227).......................... 100,000 100,000 250,000 +150,000 +150,000
(Rescission)................................................... -100,000 -100,000 -250,000 -150,000 -150,000
Medical facilities (Sec. 227)...................................... 250,000 250,000 250,000 ............... ...............
(Rescission)................................................... -250,000 -250,000 -250,000 ............... ...............
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Total, General Provisions.................................... ............... ............... ............... ............... ...............
Appropriations........................................... (1,750,000) (1,750,000) (2,000,000) (+250,000) (+250,000)
Rescissions.............................................. (-1,750,000) (-1,750,000) (-2,000,000) (-250,000) (-250,000)
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Total, title II.............................................. 124,156,287 137,557,648 137,557,648 +13,401,361 ...............
Appropriations........................................... (73,365,287) (84,845,648) (85,095,648) (+11,730,361) (+250,000)
Rescissions.............................................. (-1,750,000) (-1,750,000) (-2,000,000) (-250,000) (-250,000)
Advance from prior year.................................. (50,610,985) (52,541,000) (52,541,000) (+1,930,015) ...............
Advance appropriations, fiscal year 2014................. (52,541,000) (54,462,000) (54,462,000) (+1,921,000) ...............
(Limitation on direct loans)............................. (3,519) (3,229) (3,229) (-290) ...............
====================================================================================
TITLE III--RELATED AGENCIES
American Battle Monuments Commission
Salaries and expenses.............................................. 61,100 58,400 58,400 -2,700 ...............
Foreign currency fluctuations account.............................. 16,000 15,200 15,200 -800 ...............
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Total, American Battle Monuments Commission.................. 77,100 73,600 73,600 -3,500 ...............
U.S. Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims
Salaries and expenses.............................................. 30,770 32,481 32,481 +1,711 ...............
Department of Defense--Civil
Cemeterial Expenses, Army
Salaries and expenses.............................................. 45,800 45,800 41,000 -4,800 -4,800
Consturction program............................................... ............... ............... 107,800 +107,800 +107,800
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Total, Cemeterial Expenses, Army............................. 45,800 45,800 148,800 +103,000 +103,000
Armed Forces Retirement Home--Trust Fund
Operation and maintenance.......................................... 65,700 65,590 65,590 -110 ...............
Capital program.................................................... 2,000 2,000 2,000 ............... ...............
Armed Forces Retirement Home--General Fund
Capital program.................................................... 14,630 ............... ............... -14,630 ...............
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Total, Armed Forces Retirement Home.......................... 82,330 67,590 67,590 -14,740 ...............
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Total, title III............................................. 236,000 219,471 322,471 +86,471 +103,000
====================================================================================
TITLE IV--OVERSEAS CONTINGENCY OPERATIONS
Military Construction, Army........................................ 80,000 ............... ............... -80,000 ...............
Military Construction, Navy and Marine Corps....................... 189,703 ............... ............... -189,703 ...............
Rescission from Title IV, Division E of Public Law 111-117......... -269,703 ............... ............... +269,703 ...............
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Total, title IV.............................................. ............... ............... ............... ............... ...............
====================================================================================
Grand total.................................................. 137,441,934 148,999,829 148,533,927 +11,091,993 -465,902
Appropriations........................................... (87,198,110) (96,287,829) (96,071,927) (+8,873,817) (-215,902)
Rescissions.............................................. (-2,297,176) (-1,750,000) (-2,000,000) (+297,176) (-250,000)
Advances from prior year................................. (50,610,985) (52,541,000) (52,541,000) (+1,930,015) ...............
Advance appropriations, fiscal year 2014................. (52,541,000) (54,462,000) (54,462,000) (+1,921,000) ...............
Overseas contingency operations.......................... ............... ............... ............... ............... ...............
(By transfer)............................................ ............... (280,000) (280,000) (+280,000) ...............
(Transfer out)........................................... ............... (-280,000) (-280,000) (-280,000) ...............
(Limitation on direct loans)............................. (3,519) (3,229) (3,229) (-290) ...............
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