Defense Department FY96 Appropriations bill

TABLE OF CONTENTS:

Title I: Military Personnel

Title II: Operation and Maintenance

Title III: Procurement

Title IV: Research, Development, Test and Evaluation

Title V: Revolving and Management Funds

Title VI: Other Department of Defense Programs

Title VII: Related Agencies

Title VIII: General Provisions

Department of Defense Appropriations Act, 1996 - Title I: Military Personnel - Appropriates funds for FY 1996 for active-duty and reserve personnel in the Army, Navy, Marine Corps, and Air Force and for National Guard personnel in the Army and Air Force.

Title II: Operation and Maintenance - Appropriates funds for FY 1996 for the operation and maintenance of the Army, Navy, and Air Force (including a transfer of funds in each case), the Marine Corps, the defense agencies, the reserve components, and the Army and Air National Guards. Appropriates funds for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces, environmental restoration, defense (including a transfer of funds), the 1996 Summer Olympics, humanitarian assistance, and nuclear threat reduction programs with respect to republics of the former Soviet Union.

Title III: Procurement - Appropriates funds for FY 1996 for procurement by the armed forces and its reserve components of aircraft, missiles, weapons, tracked combat vehicles, ammunition, shipbuilding and conversion, and for other procurement. Appropriates funds for defense-wide procurement and for National Guard and reserve equipment.

Title IV: Research, Development, Test and Evaluation - Appropriates funds for FY 1996 for research, development, test and evaluation by the armed forces and defense agencies. Appropriates funds for the Directors of Test and Evaluation and Operational Test and Evaluation.

Title V: Revolving and Management Funds - Appropriates funds for: (1) the Defense Business Operations Fund; and (2) programs under the National Defense Sealift Fund.

Title VI: Other Department of Defense Programs - Appropriates funds for: (1) the Department of Defense (DOD) medical and health care programs; (2) the destruction of lethal chemical agents and munitions; (3) drug interdiction and counter-drug activities, defense (including a transfer of funds); and (4) expenses and activities of the Office of the Inspector General in carrying out the Inspector General Act of 1978.

Title VII: Related Agencies - Appropriates funds for: (1) the Central Intelligence Agency Retirement and Disability System Fund; (2) national security scholarships, fellowships, and grants (using funds derived from the National Security Education Trust Fund); (3) expenses of the Community Management Account; and (4) authorized payments to the Kaho'olawe Island Conveyance, Remediation, and Environmental Restoration Trust Fund.

Title VIII: General Provisions - Specifies authorized, restricted, and prohibited uses of appropriated funds.

(Sec. 8010) Authorizes procurement funds appropriated under this Act to be used for multiyear procurement contracts for UH-60 Blackhawk and Apache Longbow helicopters, as well as the M1A2 tank upgrade.

(Sec. 8013) Prohibits during FY 1996 the management by end strengths of DOD civilian personnel.

(Sec. 8030) Authorizes the Secretary of Defense (Secretary) to establish with host governments of NATO-member countries an account for the deposit of residual value amounts negotiated in the return of U.S. military installations to such countries.

(Sec. 8039) Earmarks funds from this Act for the Civil Air Patrol.

(Sec. 8044) Authorizes DOD to incur up to $250 million in obligations for DOD personnel compensation, military construction projects, and supplies and services in anticipation of receipts of contributions from the Government of Kuwait.

(Sec. 8050) Authorizes the payment of voluntary separation incentive payments to military personnel.

(Sec. 8059) Prohibits the use of funds: (1) for the modification of an aircraft, weapon, ship, or other equipment that the military department concerned plans to retire or otherwise dispose of within five years after completion of the modification; (2) to transport chemical munitions to the Johnston Atoll for storage or demilitarization (with an exception and an authorized wartime waiver by the President); (3) by a DOD entity without compliance with the Buy American Act; (4) for assistance to or programs in the Democratic People's Republic of North Korea unless specifically appropriated for such purpose; (5) to reduce the civilian medical and medical support personnel assigned to military treatment facilities below the September 30, 1995 level; and (6) for the procurement of ball and roller bearings not produced by a domestic source and of domestic origin.

(Sec. 8065) Earmarks funds appropriated under this Act for the mitigation of adverse environmental impacts on Indian lands resulting from DOD activities.

(Sec. 8067) Directs the Secretary, to the extent authorized by law, to issue loan guarantees in support of U.S. defense exports not otherwise provided for, with a total loan guarantee contingent liability limit of $15 billion. Requires that: (1) exposure fees collected by the Secretary be paid by the country involved and not financed as part of a guaranteed loan; and (2) the Secretary provide quarterly reports to specified congressional committees on such loan guarantees.

(Sec. 8073) Rescinds specified funds from various accounts under prior defense appropriations Acts.

(Sec. 8075) Provides the minimum number of personnel to be employed during FY 1995 as military reserve technicians in the National Guard and reserves. Appropriates funds for the compensation of such personnel.

(Sec. 8079) Directs the Secretary, upon the enactment of this Act, to make specified transfers between various DOD appropriation accounts.

(Sec. 8086) Prohibits the use of funds: (1) for the destruction of pentaborane currently stored at Edwards Air Force Base, California, until the Secretary of Energy makes specified certifications to the defense committees; (2) for payment on new contracts on which allowable costs charged to the Government include payments for individual compensation at a rate in excess of $250,000 per year; (3) to support or finance during FY 1996 the activities of the Defense Policy Advisory Committee on Trade; and (4) for the procurement of munitions unless such acquisition fully complies with the Competition in Contracting Act.

(Sec. 8087) Directs the head of each agency for which funds are made available under this Act to take necessary actions to achieve during FY 1996 a five percent reduction in the energy costs of their respective facilities and to use such savings in the following manner: (1) 50 percent for the implementation of additional conservation measures; and (2) 50 percent for purposes designated by the agency head. Requires agency reports to the Congress.

(Sec. 8088) Requires, on and after October 1, 1995, DOD disbursements in excess of $1 million to be matched to a particular obligation before the disbursement is made. Requires such matching for disbursements in excess of $500,000 on and after September 30, 1996. Provides exceptions.

(Sec. 8089) Limits, with exceptions, the total amount to be obligated or expended for Seawolf class submarines.

(Sec. 8092) Prohibits funds appropriated by this Act from being used for the pay or allowances of military personnel who have been sentenced by court-martial to confinement of one year or more, death, dishonorable or bad-conduct discharge, or dismissal during any period of confinement or parole. Authorizes the waiver of such prohibition for up to six months in the case of any such member who has dependents. Requires the repayment of any pay or allowances withheld when such a sentence is set aside or disapproved.

(Sec. 8094) Directs the General Accounting Office to report to the appropriations committees on any changes in DOD commissary access policy.

(Sec. 8095) Directs the Secretary to develop and provide to the defense committees an Electronic Combat Master Plan to establish an optimum infrastructure for electronic combat assets no later than March 31, 1996.

(Sec. 8096) Directs the Secretaries of Defense and the Army to reconsider the decision not to include the infantry military occupational specialty among the military skills and specialties for which special pays are provided under the Selected Reserve Incentive Program.

(Sec. 8097) Provides the appropriate scope of environmental impact analysis necessary to support an interim lease of property at military installations approved for closure or realignment under a base closure law.

(Sec. 8098) Provides certification requirements from the Secretary of the Navy to the appropriations committees with respect to the obligation of funds for the procurement of vessels under the SSN-21 attack submarine program or the new attack submarine program (NSSN-1 and NSSN-2).

(Sec. 8099) Limits to $52 million the amount that may be obligated or expended for the dismantling and destruction of chemical weapons of the former Soviet Union until the President makes certain certifications to the Congress with respect to the neutralization of Russia's chemical weapons and the resolution of issues under the Wyoming Memorandum of Understanding and the 1990 Bilateral Destruction Agreement.

(Sec. 8100) Expresses the sense of the Senate that France and China should abide by the current international moratorium on nuclear test explosions and refrain from conducting underground nuclear tests in advance of a comprehensive test ban treaty.

(Sec. 8101) Prohibits the Secretary from approving a theater missile defense interceptor program beyond the low-rate initial production acquisition stage until the Secretary makes certain certifications to the defense committees with respect to the program's testing and evaluation. Requires specified reports in connection with such testing.

(Sec. 8102) Makes eligible for loan guarantees under the defense dual-use (military and civilian) assistance extension program certain former defense workers adversely affected by reductions in defense expenditures.