"Section 4 of the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act (UMRA) excludes from the application of that act any legislative provisions that are necessary for national security. CBO has determined that section 825, which would provide rapid acquisition authority for the Department of Defense in the event of a demonstrable, imminent, and urgent threat to national security, falls under that exclusion and has not reviewed it for intergovernmental or private-sector mandates."
May 23, 2005
H.R. 1815
National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2006
As reported by the House Committee on Armed Services on May 20, 2005
SUMMARY
H.R. 1815 would authorize appropriations totaling $485 billion for fiscal year 2006 for the military functions of the Department of Defense (DoD), for activities of the Department of Energy (DOE), and for other purposes. That total includes $49 billion for military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. In addition, the bill would prescribe personnel strengths for each active-duty and selected reserve component of the U.S. armed forces. CBO estimates that appropriation of the authorized amounts would result in additional outlays of $480 billion over the 2006-2010 period. Including outlays from funds previously appropriated, defense spending would total just under $500 billion in 2006, CBO estimates.
The bill also contains provisions that would both increase and decrease costs of discretionary defense programs over the 2007-2010 period. CBO estimates that those provisions combined would increase the requirements for discretionary spending by about $3 billion over those four years, assuming that net appropriations are increased by the estimated amounts.
The bill contains provisions that would both increase and decrease direct spending, primarily from modifying the phase-in of concurrent receipt of military retirement annuities and veterans disability compensation for certain retirees, and from the sale of materials held in the National Defense Stockpile. We estimate that those provisions combined would decrease direct spending by $84 million over the 2006-2010 period but increase such spending by about $38 million over the 2006-2015 period. Those totals include estimated net receipts from asset sales of $230 million over the 2006-2015 period. (Asset sale receipts are a credit against direct spending.)
Section 4 of the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act (UMRA) excludes from the application of that act any legislative provisions that are necessary for national security. CBO has determined that section 825, which would provide rapid acquisition authority for the Department of Defense in the event of a demonstrable, imminent, and urgent threat to national security, falls under that exclusion and has not reviewed it for intergovernmental or private-sector mandates.
The remaining provisions of the bill contain both intergovernmental and private-sector mandates as defined in UMRA but CBO estimates that the annual cost of those mandates would not exceed the thresholds established in UMRA ($62 million for intergovernmental mandates in 2005 and $123 million for private-sector mandates in 2005, adjusted annually for inflation).
In general, H.R. 1815 would benefit state, local, and tribal governments by authorizing aid for certain local schools with dependents of defense personnel, expanding the authority of State governors to order their state's National Guard to support counter-terrorism activities, and conveying certain parcels of land to state and local governments. Any costs to those governments would be incurred voluntarily.
ESTIMATED COST TO THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT
The estimated budgetary impact of H.R. 1815 is summarized in Table 1. Most of the costs of this legislation fall within budget function 050 (national defense). |
