Feb. 16 update – Defense/Nuclear/Foreign Policy Amendments to Continuing Resolution in the House

The House voted down five national security-related amendments yesterday, four by recorded vote, and debated three more amendments that will be voted upon at some point today.

The House completed action at 1:13 AM (no, I was not watching) and resumes session at 10 AM today with debate on the Continuing Resolution to begin at Noon.

There are now a total of 583 amendments submitted.  However, yesterday the debate on amendments proceeded to p.263 of the bill, meaning that the Pentagon and Department of Energy sections have been completed (amendments before that point are no longer eligible to be offered). A number of amendments were submitted yesterday that appear to be ineligible for consideration because they refer to pages of the bill already passed.

The House Democratic whip notice states:

“As of yesterday, the House had completed reading through the following portions of the bill:
•    Division A (Defense)
•    The Following titles in Division B:
•Title I ( General Provisions)
•Title II (Agriculture)
•Title III (Commerce, Justice, Science, and related agencies)
•Title IV (Energy and Water)
•Title V (Financial Services)
•Title VI (Homeland Security)
The House stopped reading and debate at the conclusion of Title VI. The House has 15 amendments pending recorded votes and is expected to resume consideration of the bill from page 263 (Title VII – Interior), reading the bill by paragraph and debating amendments.”

However, there are a number of national security-related amendments that have been submitted to the end of the bill that still may be taken up.

New since yesterday on first part of list: amendment #1 on U.S. Institute for Peace and amendment #106 to create an Afghanistan-Pakistan Study Group. There are an additional few national security-related amendments submitted yesterday at the end of the list beginning with #413.

Amendments already voted on

Offered By: Mr. Flake (cuts Defense-wide operations and maintenance by $18,750 million)
   AMENDMENT NO. 370: Page 9, line 15
      Defeated 207-223, Feb. 15, 2011

Offered By: Mr. Pompeo (cuts money from innovation grant earmarks)
   AMENDMENT NO. 87: Page 22, line 18,  Cut $502,400,000
    Defeated 72 – 358, Feb. 15, 2011

  Offered By: Mr. Gutierrez (cuts V-22 Osprey)
   Amendment No. 63: Page 23, line 12,
    Defeated 105 – 326, Feb. 15, 2011

Offered By: Mr. Pompeo  (reduces Pentagon research on alternative fuels by $115.2 million; yesterday this was erroneously described as an F-35 engine amendment)
   AMENDMENT NO. 86: Page 32, line 21.
Defeated 109 – 320, Feb. 15, 2011

Offered By: Mr. Quigley (cuts Pentagon R&D money across-the-board by $7.5 billion)
   AMENDMENT NO. 162: Page 33, line 9
    Defeated by voice vote, February 15, 2011

Amendments debated but not voted on

  Offered By: Mr. Rooney  (Cutting second F-35 engine amendment)
    AMENDMENT NO. 2: Page 33, line 16, after the dollar amount, insert “(reduced by $225,000,000)”.
    Page 34, line 6, after the dollar amount, insert “(reduced by $225,000,000)”.
    Page 359, line 6, after the dollar amount, insert “(increased by $450,000,000)”.

 Offered By: Mr. Jones (cuts funds for Afghanistan Infrastructure Fund)
   AMENDMENT NO. 95: Page 127, line 23, after the dollar amount, insert “(reduced by $400,000,000)”.
    Page 359, line 6, after the dollar amount, insert “(increased by $400,000,000)”.

  Offered By: Mr. Holt (eliminates Iraq Security Forces Fund)
   AMENDMENT NO. 237: Page 131, line 24, after the dollar amount, insert “(reduced by $1,500,000,000)”.

Amendments to be considered

Offered By: Mr. Cravaack (cuts all funds for U.S. Institute for Peace)
    AMENDMENT NO. 1: Page 321, line 7, after the dollar amount, insert “(reduced by $42,676,000)”.
    Page 359, line 20, after the dollar amount, insert “(increased by $42,676,000)”.

  Offered By: Mr. Campbell (cuts Defense, DHS and Veterans by $14 billion)
   AMENDMENT NO. 7: At the end of the bill (before the short title), insert the following:
    Sec. _. The total amount otherwise made available by this Act for the Departments of Defense, Homeland Security, and Veterans Affairs is hereby reduced by $14,000,000,000.

  Offered By: Mr. Stearns (bars United Nations construction)
    AMENDMENT NO. 8: At the end of the bill (before the short title), insert the following:
    Sec. _. None of the funds made available in this Act may be used for the design, renovation, construction, or rental of any headquarters for the United Nations in any location in the United States.

  Offered By: Mr. Polis (cuts Armed Forces personnel)
   Amendment No. 46: At the end of the bill (before the short title), insert the following new section:
   Sec. X. None of the funds made available by this Act may be used to maintain an end strength level of members of the Armed Forces of the United States assigned to permanent duty in Europe in excess of 35,000 members and end strength levels for active duty members of the Army, Navy, and Air Force of 565,275, 328,250, and 329,275, respectively, and the amounts otherwise provided by this Act for “Military Personnel, Army”, “Military Personnel, Navy” and “Military Personnel, Air Force” in title I of division A are hereby reduced by $155,914,688, $18,047,700, and $118,488,825, respectively.
[Following recommendations in the Sustainable Defense Task Force report, limiting the number of troops stationed in Europe to 35,000 and cutting force structure by 7,500 troops in the next 6 months. Rep. Polis will argue on the floor that this should be the beginning of reductions to cut force structure by 30,000 troops in 2 years.]

Offered By: Ms. McCollum (cuts military band money)
   Amendment No. 49: At the end of the bill (before the short title), insert the following:
   Sec. _. Not more than $200,000,000 of the funds made available by division A of this Act may be used for military bands, musical equipment, or musical performances.

  Offered By: Ms. McCollum (prohibits DOD from sponsoring NASCAR race cars)
   Amendment No. 50: At the end of the bill (before the short title), insert the following new section:
   Sec. _. None of the funds made available by this Act may be used by the Department of Defense for sponsorship of NASCAR race cars.

Offered By: Mr. Murphy of Connecticut (prohibits spending on European companies that build tubing)
   Amendment No. 57: At the end of the bill (before the short title), insert the following new section:
   Sec. _. None of the funds made available by this Act may be used to enter into a contract with a firm that engages in unfair trade practices as defined in subpart 9.4 of the Federal Acquisition Regulation, and any such firm shall be debarred from contracting with the Federal Government.

      Offered By: Mr. Kind  (cuts Expeditionary Fighting Vehicle & a missile program)
   AMENDMENT NO. 88: At the end of the bill (before the short title), insert the following:
    Sec. _. None of the funds made available by division A of this Act may be used to research, develop, test, evaluate, or procure any of the following:
    (1) Expeditionary Fighting Vehicle.
    (2) Surface-Launched Advanced Medium-Range Air-to-Air Missile program.

  Offered By: Mr. Heller (cuts funds for Yucca nuclear waste repository)
   AMENDMENT NO. 90: At the end of the bill, after the short title, insert the following new section:
    Sec. 4002. None of the funds made available by this Act may be used for the storage of nuclear waste at the Yucca Mountain nuclear waste repository.

  Offered By: Mr. Wolf  (creation of an Afghanistan-Pakistan Study Group similar to one on Iraq a few years ago)
   AMENDMENT NO. 106: At the end of title XI of division B of the bill (State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs), insert the following new section:
    Sec. _. (a) There is hereby established the Afghanistan-Pakistan Study Group (in this section referred to as the “Group”). To the maximum extent practicable, the Group shall be modeled on the Iraq Study Group.
    (b) The Group shall be composed of 10 members, of whom–
    (1) 1 member shall be appointed by the President, who shall serve as a co-chair of the Group;
    (2) 1 member shall be appointed by the leader of the Senate (majority or minority leader, as the case may be) of the Republican Party, in consultation with the leader of the House of Representatives (majority or minority leader, as the case may be) of the Republican Party, who shall serve as a co-chair of the Group;
    (3) 2 members shall be appointed by the senior member of the Senate leadership of the Democratic Party;
    (4) 2 members shall be appointed by the senior member of the leadership of the House of Representatives of the Republican Party;
    (5) 2 members shall be appointed by the senior member of the Senate leadership of the Republican Party; and
    (6) 2 members shall be appointed by the senior member of the leadership of the House of Representatives of the Democratic Party.
    (c)(1) Not more than 5 members of the Group shall be from the same political party. An individual appointed to the Group may not be a full-time officer or employee of the Federal Government or any State or local government.
    (2) It is the sense of Congress that individuals appointed to the Group should be prominent United States citizens, with national recognition and significant depth of experience in such professions as diplomacy, the armed services, governmental service, law, intelligence gathering, and foreign affairs.
    (d) The Group shall conduct a comprehensive assessment of the situation in Afghanistan and Pakistan, its impact on the surrounding region, and its consequences for United States interests. Not later than 3 months after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Group shall submit to Congress a report on the assessment conducted under this subsection, including relevant policy recommendations relating thereto.

Offered By: Mr. Gohmert (bars assistance to countries that vote against U.S. in U.N.)
   AMENDMENT NO. 120: At the end of the bill (before the short title), insert the following:
   SEC. _. PROHIBITION ON ASSISTANCE TO COUNTRIES THAT OPPOSE THE POSITION OF THE UNITED STATES IN THE UNITED NATIONS.
    (a) Prohibition.–Any United States assistance made available by this Act may not be provided to a country that opposed the position of the United States in the United Nations.
[cut out most of the rest of the text for space purposes]  

  Offered By: Mr. Poe of Texas (restricts aid to Russia)
   AMENDMENT NO. 128: At the end of the bill (before the short title), insert the following:
   Sec. _. None of the funds made available by this Act may be used to provide assistance to the Russian Federation, other than assistance provided to the following program areas: combating weapons of mass destruction, stabilization operations and security sector reform, counter-narcotics, transnational crime, conflict mitigation and reconciliation, rule of law and human rights, good governance, political competition and consenses-building, and civil society.

Offered By: Mr. Stark (cuts Pentagon funding to FY 2008 levels)
   AMENDMENT NO. 141: At the end of the bill (before the short title), insert the following:
    Sec. _. (a) None of the funds made available by division A of this Act for any account of the Department of Defense (other than accounts listed in subsection (b)) may be used in excess of the amount made available for such account for fiscal year 2008.
    (b) The accounts exempted pursuant to this subsection are the following accounts in division A:
    (1) Military personnel, reserve personnel, and National Guard personnel accounts of the Department of Defense.
    (2) The Defense Health Program account.

  Offered By: Mr. Forbes (bans closing Joint Forces Command)
   AMENDMENT NO. 145: At the end of the bill (before the short title), insert the following new section:
    Sec. _. None of the funds made available by this Act may be used to take any action to effect or implement the disestablishment, closure, or realignment of the United States Joint Forces Command.

  Offered By: Mr. Mulvaney (cuts all non-defense programs, including Energy, to FY 2006 levels)
   AMENDMENT NO. 163: At the end of the bill (before the short title), insert the following:
    Sec. _. None of the funds made available by this Act for any account (other than an account of the Department of Defense, Homeland Security, or Veterans Affairs) may be used in excess of the amount available for such account during fiscal year 2006.

  Offered By: Mr. Larson of Connecticut (cuts $450 million from Navy & Air Force R&D)
   AMENDMENT NO. 168: Page 33, line 16, after the dollar amount, insert “(reduced by $225,000,000)”.
    Page 34, line 6, after the dollar amount, insert “(reduced by $225,000,000)”.
    Page 359, line 6, after the dollar amount, insert “(increased by $450,000,000)”.

  Offered By: Mr. McGovern (all Afghanistan war funds have to be fully offset by cuts in other programs)
   AMENDMENT NO. 170: At the end of the bill (before the short title), insert the following new section:
    Sec. _. None of the funds appropriated or otherwise made available by this Act shall be used by the Department of Defense to conduct military operations in Afghanistan during fiscal year 2011 unless the funds were fully offset by reductions in other spending accounts.
[probably not germane]

  Offered By: Ms. Woolsey (bans funds for V-22 or Expeditionary Fighting Vehicle)
   AMENDMENT NO. 189: At the end of the bill (before the short title), insert the following:
    Sec. _. None of the funds made available by division A of this Act may be used to research, develop, test, evaluate, or procure any of the following:
    (1) Expeditionary Fighting Vehicle.
    (2) V-22 Osprey aircraft.

Offered By: Ms. Woolsey (bans funds on V-22)
   AMENDMENT NO. 190: At the end of the bill (before the short title), insert the following:
    Sec. _. None of the funds made available by division A of this Act may be used to research, develop, test, evaluate, or procure the V-22 Osprey aircraft.

  Offered By: Ms. Woolsey (bans funds for Expeditionary Fighting Vehicle)
   AMENDMENT NO. 191: At the end of the bill (before the short title), insert the following:
  Sec. _. None of the funds made available by division A of this Act may be used to research, develop, test, evaluate, or procure the Expeditionary Fighting Vehicle.

  Offered By: Ms. Lee of California  (limits Defense spending until accounts can be audited)
   AMENDMENT NO. 222: At the end of the bill (before the short title), insert the following:
    Sec. _. (a) None of the funds made available by division A of this Act may be used for any account of the Department of Defense (other than accounts excluded by subsection (b)) in excess of the amount made available for such account for fiscal year 2010, unless the financial statements of the Department for fiscal year 2010 are validated as ready for audit within 180 days after the date of the enactment of this Act.
    (b) The following accounts are excluded from the prohibition in subsection (a):
    (1) Military personnel, reserve personnel, and National Guard personnel accounts of the Department of Defense.
    (2) The Defense Health Program account.
    (c) In this section, the term “validation”, with respect to the auditability of financial statements, means a determination following an examination engagement that the financial statements comply with generally accepted accounting principles and applicable laws and regulations and reflect reliable internal controls.

  Offered By: Mr. Goodlatte (cuts spending on Los Alamos Neutron Science Center)
   AMENDMENT NO. 228: At the end of the bill (before the short title), insert the following:
    Sec. _. None of the funds provided by this Act for “Department of Energy, Atomic Energy Defense Activities, National Nuclear Security Administration, Weapons Activities” shall be available for the Los Alamos Neutron Science Center refurbishment, and the amount otherwise provided under such heading is hereby reduced by $20,000,000.

 Offered By: Mr. Nadler (cuts all but $10 billion for the war in Afghanistan, with the remaining money to be used to withdraw troops)
   AMENDMENT NO. 232: At the end of the bill (before the short title), insert the following:
    Sec. _. Not more than $10,000,000,000 of the funds made available by this Act may be used for United States military operations in Afghanistan.

Offered By: Mr. Kucinich (cuts all funds for missile defense)
   AMENDMENT NO. 233: At the end of the bill (before the short title), insert the following:
    Sec. _. None of the funds made available by division A of this Act may be used for the missile defense program of the Department of Defense.

 Offered By: Mr. Broun of Georgia (bars funding for United Nations dues)
   AMENDMENT NO. 263: At the end of the bill (before the short title), insert the following:
   SEC. _. None of the funds made available by this Act may be used to pay any dues to the United Nations.

 Offered By: Ms. Woolsey  (limits spending on Afghanistan war until status of forces agreement)
   AMENDMENT NO. 413: At the end of the bill (before the short title), insert the following:
    Sec. _. None of the funds made available by this Act may be used in Department of Defense overseas contingency operations budget for military operations in Afghanistan until the President to seeks to negotiate and enter into a bilateral status of forces agreement with the Government of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan.

  Offered By: Mr. Fortenberry (limits aid to Chad)
   AMENDMENT NO. 424: At the end of the bill (before the short title), insert the following new section:
    Sec. _. None of the funds made available by this Act may be used to provide any of the following types of assistance to Chad: international military education and training (IMET), foreign military financing (FMF), provision of excess defense articles, foreign military forces capacity assistance (section 1206 of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2006), and direct commercial sales of military equipment.

  Offered By: Mr. Lamborn (increases Defense appropriations, but appears to be subject to a point of order)
   AMENDMENT NO. 504: At the end of the bill (before the short title), insert the following new section:
    Sec. _. (a) Additional Appropriations for Department of Defense.–In addition to amounts otherwise appropriated or made available by this Act for the Department of Defense, there is appropriated to the Secretary of Defense an amount equal to the difference between–
    (1) the sum of the amounts authorized to be appropriated for the Department of Defense by division A of the Ike Skelton National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2011 (Public Law 111-383); and
    (2) the sum of the amounts actually appropriated or made available for the Department of Defense by division A of this Act.
    (b) Offset.–The amount appropriated by subsection (a) shall be offset by reductions in future appropriations for the executive branch generally, not merely the Department of Defense, and the Chairman of the Committee on the Budget of the House of Representatives shall provide the necessary adjustments in allocations, aggregates, and other appropriate levels in the concurrent resolution on the budget for fiscal year 2012 and such subsequent fiscal years as may be necessary to achieve such reductions.

  Offered By: Mr. Akin (bars terminating Expeditionary Fighting Vehicle or Marine assault vehicles).
   AMENDMENT NO. 507: At the end of the bill (before the short title), insert the following:
    Sec. _. None of the funds made available by division A of this Act may be used for termination liabilities with respect to assault vehicles of the Marine Corps or the Expeditionary Fighting Vehicle.

Offered By: Mr. Carter (bars spending for a host of government positions, including Special Assistant and Senior Director to the President and Weapons of Mass Destruction Coordinator and many State Dept. special envoys)
   AMENDMENT NO. 528: At the end of the bill (before the short title), insert the following:
    Sec. _. (a) None of the funds made available by this Act may be used to pay the salary or expenses of any position identified in subsection (b).
    (b) The positions identified in this subsection are as follows:
    (1).Senior Advisor to the Secretary of the Treasury Assigned to the Presidential Task Force on the Auto Industry.
    (2).Assistant to the President for Homeland Security and Counterterrorism.
    (3).Assistant to the President for Energy and Climate Change.
    (4).White House Director of Urban Affairs.
    (5).Associate Director, Technology Policy, Office of Science and Technology Policy.
    (6).Senior Advisor, Environmental Protection Agency, Great Lakes Restoration Plan.
    (7).Director, White House Office of Health Reform.
    (8).Chair of the Recovery Accountability and Transparency Board.
    (9).Special Counsel to the President for Ethics and Government Reform.
    (10).Intellectual Property Enforcement Coordinator.
    (11).Special Master for TARP Executive Compensation, Department of the Treasury.
    (12).Special Envoy To Oversee the Closure of the Detention Center at Guantanamo Bay.
    (13).Special Envoy for Sudan.
    (14).Special Representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan.
    (15).Chairman, Council on Jobs and Competitiveness.
    (16).Special Advisor for Green Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation, Council on Environmental Quality.
    (17).Associate General Counsel and Chief Diversity Officer, Federal Communications Commission.
    (18).Special Envoy for the Middle East.
    (19).Director of Recovery for Auto Communities and Workers.
    (20).Special Advisor for the Persian Gulf and Southwest Asia.
    (21).Special Assistant and Senior Director to the President and Weapons of Mass Destruction Coordinator.
    (22).Assistant to the President and Special Advisor to the Secretary of the Treasury on the Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection.
    (23).Deputy Director for Management, Office of Management and Budget.
    (24).Special Envoy to Monitor and Combat Anti-Semitism.

  Offered By: Mr. Welch (???)
   AMENDMENT NO. 536: At the end of the bill (before the short title), insert the following new section:
    Sec. __. The amount otherwise provided by this Act for “Operation and Maintenance, Defense-Wide” is hereby reduced by, and amount otherwise provided by this Act for “Operation and Maintenance, Army National Guard” is hereby increased by, $150,000,000 and $150,000,000, respectively.