The House Armed Services Committee has approved a $441
billion fiscal 2006 Defense authorization bill, with a
focus on procurement overhaul, force protection and
personnel benefits.
HR-1815, scheduled to come before the full House this
week, also provides $49.1 billion in supplemental war
funding for Iraq, Afghanistan and counter terrorism in
addition to the $82 billion fiscal 2005 supplemental
approved recently — but cuts the Department of Defense’s
future combat systems program, fully funded in the Senate
version, by about $400 million.
Committee chairman Duncan Hunter, R-Calif., said in a
statement that the legislation sets the stage for a
policy discussion with Defense to ensure the nation is
“making the right trade offs between cost, new technology
and deployable numbers,” and it proposes steps involving
“tough medicine for certain programs,” namely spending
caps or delaying the introduction of complex weapons under
development that have faced complications and cost
increases.
He said the services are migrating toward increasingly
expensive “super platforms” that channel resources from
force structure and the ability to deploy costly systems
overseas with sufficient support.
