Defense Appropriations Bill Headed to House Floor

On June 12, the House Appropriations Committee approved, by voice vote, the FY2014 Defense appropriations bill (as-yet-unnumbered). The Defense Subcommittee approved the legislation on June 5 (see The Source, 6/7/13).

According to the committee summary and report, the bill would allocate $512.522 billion in FY2014 for base Department of Defense (DoD) expenditures. This amount is $5.1 billion below FY2013 and $3.4 below President Obama’s FY2014 request.

The chart below details funding levels for programs of interest to women and their families.

The report indicates the committee’s strong support for ending sexual assault in the military, noting, “The committee is outraged by the pervasive problem of sexual assault in the armed forces. Sexual assault is not just an issue in the military; it is an epidemic. To address it, the committee believes that there must be a culture change at every level of the military, from the most senior leadership to the most junior ranks” (p. 15). To that end, the committee would provide an additional $25 million to the Sexual Assault Prevention and Response Office for the expansion of a special victims counsel program in each branch of the military, including the National Guard and Reserve components (p. 16).

The peer-reviewed breast cancer research program would receive $120 million in FY2014, while the peer-reviewed ovarian cancer research program would receive $20 million (p. 273). Global HIV/AIDS prevention and the HIV/AIDS program would receive $8 million and $7 million, respectively in FY2014 (p. 270).

“The committee encourages the recruitment, training, and retention of women in the Afghanistan National Security Forces and provides funding in this act for the Afghanistan Security Forces Fund for the recruitment of both men and women for the Army, Air Force, and the Afghanistan National Police, and for updating facilities to support both genders” (p. 302).