Fiscal Year 2015 Omnibus Bill Analysis | Center for Arms Control & Non-Proliferation

December 10, 2014 - Policy Analysis - Tagged:

by Laicie Heeley & John Isaacs

The 1,600 page Omnibus Appropriations Bill, currently being referred to as a ‘Cromnibus,’ was filed in the House on December 9. The bill contains 11 appropriations measures tied up as one bill, plus a segment to continue spending for the Department of Homeland Security until February 27. This later segment is designed to set up a vote early in 2015 on the President’s immigrations actions. Base Pentagon spending, which does not include additional spending on Overseas Contingency Operations (OCO) or funding for nuclear weapons activities at the Department of Energy, is in compliance with the Murray-Ryan budget agreement. The bill provides funding for the government until the end of Fiscal Year 2015.

Despite a trillion dollar price tag and hundreds of controversial provisions, the bill is expected to slide through the legislative process this week to permit Congress to recess until next year. A vote on HR 83 is expected in the House on Thursday, December 11, and the Senate soon thereafter. Because the last funding bill expires on December 11, Congress is expected to pass a short-term stop-gap Continuing Resolution to fund the government for a few days until HR 83 is passed.

Department of Energy nuclear programs

  • $8.2 billion – nuclear weapons activities, $387 million more than requested* $8.2 billion – nuclear weapons activities, $387 million more than requested
  • $1.6 billion – non-proliferation activities, $86 million more than requested
  • $5.9 billion – defense environmental cleanup
  • $1.2 billion – naval reactors (includes $156 million to continue the design of a 40-year nuclear reactor core to power the Ohio-class submarine)
  • $643 million – B61 bomb life extension program
  • $9.4 million – cruise missile warhead life extension program study
  • $326 million – Global Threat Reduction Initiative (GTRI), a reduction from $442 million from FY 2014; GTRI projects in Russia rejected
  • $345 million – Mixed Oxide Fuel (MOX) program, an increase of $124 million and a bar on placing the facility in cold storage
  • $271 million – International Material Protection and Cooperation (IMP&C)
  • $143 million – Nuclear Counterterrorism Response Fund
  • $393 million – Defense Nuclear Non-Proliferation research and development
  • 335 million – Uranium Reprocessing Facility
  • Bars new contracts or agreements related to non-proliferation programs with Russia, but on-going activities can continue with a waiver
  • Adds $81 million above the request for 3 specific activities:
  • $18 million to secure the highest risk radiological sources domestically and internationally at medical and industrial facilities that could be stolen and used as dirty bombs
  • An additional $31 million to develop technology to detect uranium and plutonium production activities in proliferant countries such as Iran and North Korea
  • An additional $32 million to finish deploying portal monitors in Eastern Europe to detect smuggled material out of Russia

Department of Defense programs

Major additions

  • $1 billion – San Antonio class amphibious ship
  • $849 million – refuel and overhaul the George Washington aircraft carrier
  • $200 million – Joint High Speed Vessel ship
  • $479 million – four additional F-35 fighter jets (bringing the total to 38)
  • $337 million – keep flying Air Force’s A-10 Warthog
  • $341 million – modernize 12 Apache helicopters and 9 Black Hawk helicopters
  • $1.5 billion – 15 EA-18G Growlers electronic warfare planes
  • $154 million – P-8A Poseidon Navy warplane
  • $155 million – 12 MQ-9 drones
  • $120 million – Abrams tank upgrades
  • $100 million – medium Army trucks
  • $80 million – long-lead funding for another ship added to $1.5 billion for three Littoral Combat Ships
  • $1.3 billion – increase in medical research budget and congressionally-directed

Major cuts to Pentagon requests

  • $2.7 billion cut from $4 billion request for a Counterterrorism Partnership Fund to help foreign militaries fight terrorists.

Nuclear weapons-related programs

  • Full funding for Navy’s Ohio-class replacement submarine
  • Full funding for Air Force’s Long Range Strike Bomber
  • $50 million – improve ground-based mid-course missile defense

Some selected major elements

  • $5 billion to combat the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria
  • $1.3 billion for new counterterrorism fund for places like Yemen, Libya and Somalia
  • $500 million to train forces in Iraq and Syria
  • $5.4 billion to fight the Ebola virus
  • $810 million for European Reassurance Initiative to counter aggressive Russian actions
  • $4.1 billion for training and sustainment of Afghanistan’s security forces
  • $365 million for Cooperative Threat Reduction programs in the Department of Defense
  • 1% pay increase for civilian workforce
  • Bars transferring Guantanamo detainees to the U.S. or preparing any U.S. facility to receive them
  • Eliminated a 5% discount for tobacco and tobacco-related products sold at military exchanges
  • Adds $20 million to each service for alternate energy research and $5 million for Arctic climate change research while eliminating House provision to bar climate change research

via Fiscal Year 2015 Omnibus Bill Analysis | Center for Arms Control & Non-Proliferation.