The Senate Armed Services Committee did not force the Pentagon to buy as many unrequested items as the House Armed Services Committee did, but in several cases the senators authorized buying a platform and left finding the money to do so up to military leaders.
In the case of the Navy’s aircraft carrier USS George Washington (CVN-73), SASC chose to provide the Navy secretary the authority “to use unobligated funds from underperforming programs to transfer up to $650 million for the continued support and advance planning for the refueling.” The Navy had attempted to buy another year of decision space by not funding the refueling this year, and HASC members found money in the budget to fund the refueling.
SASC more or less puts the onus on Navy leadership to figure out how to pay for the refueling, while also banning the Navy from spending money to inactivate the ship and requiring a report on the effects on the combatant commanders of having fewer than the mandated 11-ship minimum.
SASC also allows the secretary to transfer up to $650 million from underperforming programs to help buy a 12th San Antonio-class amphibious transport dock, which the Navy did not ask for and HASC provided $800 million for. Both HASC and SASC provided authority to incrementally fund the ship, instead of trying to find enough money to buy the $2-billion boat in one year.
The bill authorizes $25 million, and would allow the Navy to transfer $75 million from prior year funds, for its EA-18G Growler program. The Navy wasn’t going to purchase any in FY ’15 but had put 22 on its unfunded priorities list to Congress. HASC had offered $450 million for five additional aircraft, whereas SASC makes a gesture to keep all options on the table “if Navy analysis shows that the Navy needs to buy more EA-18G electronic warfare aircraft.”
The senators also left the spy plane situation somewhat ambiguous. The Pentagon had asked to retire the aging U-2 fleet in favor of the newer Global Hawk Block 30. But SASC transferred the Global Hawk funding to the U-2 spending account, provided $62 million for U-2 modernization and cut Global Hawk research by $136 million to stop work “trying to duplicate the capabilities of the U-2.” It also, inserted language that does not require the Air Force to retire or not retire either fleet.
In line with HASC, SASC upped the Navy’s Tomahawk missile buy to the minimum sustaining rate of 200; establishes a National Sea-based Deterrence Fund to fund development and procurement of the Ohio-class replacement ballistic missile submarine without hurting the rest of the Navy’s shipbuilding account; and invests in the Army’s Bradley fighting vehicle, Abrams tanks and M88A2 Hercules recovery vehicle above and beyond the Pentagon’s request to support the armored vehicle industrial base.
And SASC supported the DoD-level request of $5.8 billion for F-35 Joint Strike Fighter aircraft procurement, $1 billion for E-2D surveillance aircraft, $1.56 billion for KC-46A tanker aircraft, and $1.4 billion for C-130 airlift aircraft. It gave the Army its $49.2 million for research and development for a next generation infantry fighting vehicle, and it pushed through most of the Navy’s shipbuilding request.