National Security spending in stimulus bill

Some national security spending ended up on the cutting room floor. Here’s a full breakdown:

Defense Department:

$4.2 billion for military facilities including barracks, childcare centers and hospitals, $300 million less than the House mark and $1.3 billion more than the Senate’s.
$300 million for energy research and development, split evenly among the four services. That’s $50 million less than the House wanted but $100 million more than the Senate’s proposal.
The Senate’s $200 million allotment for providing the military with hybrid vehicles vanished, as did its $100 million addition for lithium ion batteries.
Conferees invested $400 million in the Defense Health Program, $150 million more than the Senate had proposed (the House allotted nothing).
The DOD Inspector General held on to the House mark of $15 million, $3 million more than the Senate’s proposal.

Department of Energy:

The National Nuclear Security Administration, which manages our nuclear weapons, lost the $1 billion the Senate proposed for maintenance, construction and other projects. The addition was controversial in absence of White House direction on a proposed reorganization of DOE’s nuclear labs.
Defense environmental cleanup emerged victorious with $5.1 billion, just shy of the Senate’s $5.5 billion but much more than the House’s $500 million.

Homeland Security:

DHS held on to the $200 million the Senate gave it for management, $50 million less than its original mark (thanks to the Nelson-Collins amendment) but better than the House’s $0. Its inspector general also kept the $5 million it received from the Senate, $3 more than the House proposed.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection picked up $160 million for salaries and expenses, just $38 million less than the Senate mark and $60 more than the House’s.
DHS’ Border Security, Fencing, Infrastructure and Technology account—which covers SBI-Net, the Boeing “virtual fence” program—saw the $200 million first awarded by the Senate cut in half (though that’s still $100 more than the House allotted). SBI-Net was suspended last year after its first phase deployed along 28 miles along Arizona border became riddled with problems. The final bill retained Senate language demanding an expenditure plan.
The Transportation Security Agency (TSA) maintained the $1 billion for explosive detection equipment proposed by the Senate (the Nelson-Collins amendment trimmed $200 million), which is twice as much as the House proposal. TSA is also required to submit an expenditure plan.

Legislative language explicitly naming another national-security related program, the troubled National Polar Orbiting Environmental Satellite System , disappeared from the bill report. However, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Adminisration kept the $600 million the House offered—instead of the $795 million it would have received from the Senate—for issues including “satellite development.” NASA, which was also slated to receive money for the satellite, also took the smaller House cut–$400 million rather than the Senate’s $500 million.

Information was obtained from Taxpayers for Common Sense.

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