As Congress
struggles to do its primary job of providing resources for federal government
operations, the Senate Appropriations Committee has produced its fiscal year
2022 bills. Following are five highlights from the defense bill.

First, the top-line
number for defense. The Senate appropriators joined the House and Senate
authorizers in increasing proposed defense spending over the President’s
request. There is a $23 billion delta between House and Senate appropriators as
they look toward conferencing their bills. Whereas House appropriators produced
a partisan bill at the level requested by the administration, the Senate
appropriators added funds critical for readiness (+$4.3 billion) and
modernization and to address buying power that DOD was set to lose due to
economic assumptions that would have made things like daily operations, fuel,
and health care more expensive than budgeted (+$2.7 billion). The ongoing
debate about the large infrastructure and social benefits bills — and the
reconciliation necessary to support a budget agreement on discretionary top-line
spending —
leaves the work done by the appropriators in limbo for now as the end of the continuing
resolution under which the government is currently operating looms on December
3.

Second, a focus on Indo-Pacific and military
capabilities necessary to counter China and support the National Defense
Strategy. The committee notes that its oversight activities brought to light a
number of opportunities to “accelerate the pace of change.” Specifically, the
committee provided more than $6 billion in increases for security and
deterrence in the Indo-Pacific region, space and cyber capabilities, artificial
intelligence, and infrastructure and public shipyard improvements. Of note for US
Indo-Pacific Command, the committee provides $141 million for development and
procurement funds supporting the installation of homeland defense radars on
Hawaii and Guam; $750 million to deploy a missile tracking satellite
demonstration system; nearly $85 million for sustainment and upgrades to the
Mission Partner Environment; $88 million for advanced analytic war-gaming
tools; and $28 million to enhance Military Information Support Operations.

Third, the
committee supported the new Rapid Defense Experimentation Reserve (RDER) the
Department requested after submission of the budget earlier this year. The
committee transfers funding for four similar modernization efforts to a single
budget line and increases support for RDER by $100 million. Though a good step,
such a fund would have to be much bigger to really push the cultural change
necessary for speed and for bridging the technological “valley of death” inside
the Department.

Fourth, the Planning, Programming, Budgeting
and Execution (PPBE) Commission. The committee supports a provision in the
Senate Defense Authorization bill that would establish a commission to provide
an independent review of the PPBE process while noting that: “Discussion of
PPBE reform should first distinguish between the mechanics of a process, as
opposed to the values and priorities that direct the process.” The committee
explains that “a nimble and efficient PPBE process would still result in
capability gaps with advanced adversaries if departmental priorities were
focused on overseas contingency operations rather than modernization of the
force.”

As the authorization and appropriations
committees conference their various provisions into final bills, it would be
useful to have such a commission address overall barriers to defense
modernization, including PPBE, since there are many cultural, incentive,
policy, process, and legislative practices that inhibit accomplishing the
foundational mission of getting capability to the warfighter quickly.

And finally,
non-defense spending. Unfortunately, the Senate appropriators continued the
trend of diverting defense funding and attention to programs that are not
consistent with the DOD core mission or competencies. For example, the committee
adds $1.2 billion for the Congressional Directed Medical Research Program, much
of which is duplicative of programs managed by the National Institutes of
Health.

The committee
also added funds to address drinking
water contamination while acknowledging there is currently no plan for the use
of such funds.

As negotiations
on conference agreements take place this month, Congress will have a chance to
demonstrate its relevancy by agreeing to and then passing a defense funding
bill that actually supports the nation’s security and those that provide it.

The post 5 things to know about the Senate Defense Appropriations Bill appeared first on American Enterprise Institute – AEI.