Bush submits nearly $7 billion supplemental proposal

The Bush administration formally submitted its fiscal 2001 supplemental appropriations request to Congress on Friday, calling for an additional $6.1 billion in fiscal 2001 Defense Department spending, partially offset by $500 million in defense cuts, and another $882 million for a variety of domestic needs.

Significantly, the Office of Management and Budget did not attach emergency designations to any of the supplemental requests, which as submitted would fit within the total fiscal 2001 discretionary spending cap--which Congress just last month raised by $6.5 billion in the fiscal 2002 budget resolution.

Before leaving for the Memorial Day recess, the House Appropriations Committee prepared a draft schedule that anticipated a full committee markup of the supplemental the week of June 11. But that schedule was predicated on the administration sending the supplemental to appropriators a week ago, calling into question whether the committee can keep to its projected schedule.

The defense portion is meant to meet increased personnel costs for health care, housing and a pay raise; higher electricity and natural gas prices, and additional costs for training and readiness, base operations and evolving operations--such as peacekeeping in Sierra Leone and antiterrorism efforts.

Other defense needs for which the supplemental would provide more money include funding for shipbuilding, aircraft and munitions procurement, research and development, and the Navy's efforts to recover the bodies of victims killed in the crash of the U.S.S. Greenville with a Japanese fishing trawler.

To partially offset the defense portion, the administration proposed cutting $475 million from the troubled V-22 Osprey program and $30 million from the B-52 bomber modifications program.

Although only a small portion of the supplemental, the non- defense requests would cover a wide range of needs, including $150 million for the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program to cover higher cooling costs this summer; $115.8 million for the Treasury Department to implement the tax rebate program Congress just enacted as part of the $1.35 trillion tax cut package; $35 million for the Agriculture Department's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service to better monitor emerging diseases such as foot and mouth disease; $60.6 million for security costs at the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City; and $50 million for natural disaster response and preparedness.

The supplemental also includes $61.7 million in additional funds requested by the House for its own expenses - $47.2 million for members' personal office budgets, and $14.5 million for salary increases for the office of the House Clerk, the chief administrative officer and the House Information Resources office.

Finally, the supplemental would finance an additional $92 million for the Coast Guard by canceling $93 million for the construction and improvement of Interstate 49 in Arkansas, a project spearheaded by former Rep. Jay Dickey, R-Ark., a one-time member of the Appropriations Committee defeated for re-election last November.