On August 1, the Senate Appropriations Committee approved, by voice vote, the FY2014 Defense appropriations bill (S. 1429). The bill was approved on July 30 by the Subcommittee on Defense. The House previously approved H.R. 2397, its version of the bill, on July 24 (see The Source, 7/26/13).
According to a committee summary, the legislation would appropriate $594.4 billion in overall funding for FY2014, including $516.4 billion in base spending and $77.8 billion for Overseas Contingency Operations. This amount is $10.3 billion below the FY2013 enacted level and $2.748 billion below President Obama’s request. The House bill would provide $598.805 billion in overall funding for FY2014.
The bill would provide $129.1 billion for military personnel, $549 million below the House FY2014 allocation. The bill also would allocate $120 million for breast cancer research, equal to the House funding level, and $10 million for ovarian cancer research, $10 million below the House allocation.
The bill would provide the Department of Defense Sexual Assault Prevention and Response Office (SAPRO) with $25 million to establish the Special Victims’ Counsel Program across all armed services “in order to provide victims of sexual assault with legal assistance and support.” The House allocated $25 million to this program.
Further details will be available when the committee releases its report.
