House Approves Defense Funding Bill

June 22, 2004

Congressman David Dreier (R-San Dimas), Chairman of the House Rules Committee, voted today to approve legislation providing funding for ongoing operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. The Department of Defense Appropriations Act for Fiscal Year (FY) 2005, H.R. 4613, was approved with strong bipartisan support, 403-17.

“Our troops on the ground in Iraq and Afghanistan need to know the Congress is behind them in a bipartisan way and that we are ready and willing to provide them with the resources they need to complete their mission,” Dreier said. “With the turnover of sovereignty just over a week away, this vote sends a strong signal to those who would derail the progress made by our troops and the Iraqi people. We fully realize the challenges ahead as Iraq begins to build a democracy. But we are no less committed to seeing the mission through, and honoring those who have paid the ultimate price while executing it.”

H.R. 4613 provides $416.9 billion in new discretionary spending authority for the Department of Defense for FY 2005. Included in the bill is $25 billion requested by President Bush for costs associated with operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. The remainder of the funding reflects and increase of $24.3 billion over amounts provided in 2004. Specifically, the bill provides $2.3 billion for individual soldier equipment and critical force protection requirements (such as Up-armored humvees), $1.3 billion for combat vehicles, $503 million for helicopters, $390 million for trucks and other support vehicles, and $52 million for the ammunition production base. It also includes a 3.5 % military pay increase as proposed by President Bush, and increased funding for the Basic Housing Allowance. This increase will eliminate service members’ average out-of-pocket house expenses from 3.5 % to zero in FY 2005.

Also included in the bill is $6 million for the ANGELFIRE Active Protection System, manufactured by Chang Industries in LaVerne, CA. The ANGELFIRE technology protects military helicopters and thin-skinned vehicles through an integrated sensor/countermeasure package that can be placed on key points on the aircraft or the vehicle’s hull. The City of Hope National Medical Center in Duarte, California receives $5 million in the bill for its Biomedical Research Imaging Core to extend a program to acquire and develop a broad suite of state-of-the-art imaging systems. The funding provided will allow City of Hope to improve the efficiency and accuracy of biomedical research, and will ultimately provide the military with a valuable model for the integration and translation of data from diverse sources into useful information on the battlefield.