Appropriations Subcommittee Approves Fiscal Year 2023 Defense Funding Bill

The House Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense (HAC-D), led by Chair McCollum, today approved the fiscal year 2023 Defense funding bill. The legislation funds agencies and programs in the Department of Defense (DoD) and Intelligence Community, including the Services, Central Intelligence Agency, and the National Security Agency.

For 2023, the bill provides total funding of $761.681 billion, an increase of $32.207 billion above 2022. It is in line with President Biden's budget request, a funding level endorsed by the Secretary of Defense.

The legislation:

• Provides critical security assistance to Ukraine with resources for training, equipment, weapons, supplies and services, salaries and stipends, and intelligence support to the Ukrainian military and national security forces
• Protects our national security, preserves our domestic advanced manufacturing base to support jobs and economic growth, and invests heavily in research and development with funding recommended by the Secretary of Defense
• Closes the detention facility at Guantanamo Bay and limits United States involvement in Yemen
• Defends democracy and counters China with robust funding to advance a free and open Indo-Pacific
• Supports working families by requiring contractors to pay a $15/hour minimum wage
• Confronts the climate crisis with $2.5 billion in investments in clean energy and climate adaptation to protect facilities, readiness, and global security
• Addresses violence against women with funding to tackle sexual assault in the military and promote mental health through suicide prevention funds and directs DoD to address extremist ideologies, including white supremacy. The bill includes $479 million to fully implement the recommendations of the Independent Review Commission on Sexual Assault and Sexual Harassment. In addition, the bill continues to provide $47 million for the Special Victims' Counsel program.

"The Fiscal Year 2023 Defense Appropriations bill is a responsible investment in our national security that will keep our nation strong and the American people safe," said Defense Chair Betty McCollum (D-MN-04). "Democrats are investing in creating good-paying union jobs, ensuring a safe environment for our service members and their families, and taking on the very serious security threats facing our nation and the world, such as ongoing Russian aggression and climate change. As Democrats continue to invest in diplomacy, development, and health, we also scrutinized this year's budget for inefficiencies and for cuts that could be made to save taxpayer money. As Vladimir Putin continues his brutal, illegal war in Ukraine, this legislation continues to support the Ukrainian people in their fight to defend their democracy. The Subcommittee held a total of 18 hearings, both public and classified, to gather input from the Biden administration as we wrote this legislation which makes strategic investments in our national security needs in order to keep America safe, secure, and strong."

Chair McCollum's opening remarks are below. The text of the bill is here.

"Today's markup of the Fiscal Year 2023 Department of Defense Appropriations Act is the result of a lot of hard work by our members and subcommittee staff. We conducted 18 hearings on the budget request, and I thank every member for their participation and bipartisanship, particularly my good friend and partner, Ranking Member Calvert, as well as Chair DeLauro and Ranking Member Granger.

This defense bill totals $762 billion. It is $32 billion above the 2022 enacted level and roughly equal to the President's request. Ken and I received more than 10,000 program, language, and project requests from our colleagues. One of the things that make our Appropriations Committee so special in Congress is that we go to great lengths to incorporate our member priorities.

This year we were able to at least partially accommodate 73% of the requests we received, including 65% from our colleagues in the minority. Yesterday, all of your staff were briefed on the package and received a complete list of dispositions of your requests. Ken and I did everything we could to ensure your top priorities were covered.

Now that I have covered the big picture topline discussion, I'd like to delve into some of the details.

The bill fully funds the 4.6% pay raise for uniformed and civilian personnel. Like last year, it also mandates that all defense contractors pay all their employees a minimum wage of at least $15 an hour. It also prioritizes our men and women in uniform by providing nearly $1 billion for sexual assault prevention and $193 million for suicide prevention.

One area in which Ken, Kay, Mario, and many others are in lockstep agreement is the need to do more in the SOUTHCOM and AFRICOM areas of responsibility.

In several hearings members voiced concern with the Navy's proposal to retire nine Littoral Combat Ships. While I strongly agree with the premise that we need to divest from ineffective programs, we have to ensure that we are not wasting taxpayer dollars. The bill requires the Navy to keep five of the nine ships, and provide us with a report on alternative uses for these vessels. For the remaining four, I have talked with the Chief of Naval Operations about the possibility of decommissioning them, so that they could be transferred to allies in areas of the world where these ships can promote peace and stability.

In many hearings and briefings in the last year we have discussed hypersonic weapons. The bill provides $3.7 billion. Within this portfolio, it cuts funding for ARRW, which is one of the Air Force's two hypersonics programs. Last year, after failed tests that placed it behind schedule, the Air Force asked the committee to shift funds from procurement to R&D, which we did. This year, the Air Force has proposed to continue R&D and procure one…I repeat one…missile, and it doesn't include the procurement of any additional missiles in the five-year defense plan. Instead of sinking $162 million into ARRW to buy one missile, we are providing full funding for the Air Force's other hypersonics program, HACM, as well as $197 million for test infrastructure to further accelerate the various programs that are showing more promise. On a whole, across all Services, we are providing $364 million more for hypersonics than was requested, and the Army is on track to field the first US hypersonic weapon by the end of FY 2023. There is no higher modernization priority across the Department than the aging nuclear triad. The bill builds upon FY22 increases and largely fully funds the land, sea, and air legs of the nuclear enterprise.

Because the climate crisis is a national security priority, the mark includes $2.5 billion. This means improving facilities, becoming more energy efficient, and preventing regional instability as the environment is changing, including in the Arctic where our interests will be challenged. These are critical investments that make us more secure.

Ukraine is a priority for all of us. The bill provides $300 million for the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative, which is the same level as last year. In the second supplemental this program received $6 billion. Additionally, Ukraine is receiving $11 billion in weapons we are through drawdown authority and $4 billion in Foreign Military Financing. We must do everything possible to aid Ukraine in its fight for freedom. But right now, the priority needs to be executing the logistics to successfully supply the ammunition and other supplies provided with funds our committee has already appropriated. We are also continuing to support allies in Eastern Europe, with $225 million for the Baltic Security Initiative, $45 million more than last year, and increases above the Administration's requests for Poland, Romania, Bulgaria, and Georgia.

Finally, regardless of which party controls the White House, it is imperative that we carry out our constitutional responsibilities and push back on executive overreach. In recent years, there have been several instances when the Department has ignored our requests for information. The bill withholds $100 million from the Office of the Secretary of Defense until it meets certain reporting requirements. I had intended on it being $150 million, but after I notified the Joint Staff that they would lose $50 million until they provided a report they had been sitting on for months, it just so happened to be shared with the committee days later.

Along these lines, you may remember that in our intelligence community hearings, I raised my displeasure regarding the extreme delays in agencies submitting their budget materials to the committee. In the classified annex, the Director of the Office of National Intelligence will see that we have taken action to express our displeasure.

In addition, after learning of a Department plan to limit our ability to oversee taxpayer dollars by retiring aircraft used for official congressional and cabinet secretary travel, we included a new general provision to maintain the availability of aircraft.

The President is welcome to propose whatever he wishes, but we will determine how funds are spent.

Before I close, I would like to thank the staff on both sides of the aisle for their work.

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I would now like to recognize my good friend, Ranking Member Calvert, for his remarks."

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