National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2015
2015 defense spending bill
Carl Levin and Howard P. "Buck" McKeon National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2015
Long title
To authorize appropriations for fiscal year 2015 for military activities of the Department of Defense, for military construction, and for defense activities of the Department of Energy, to prescribe military personnel strengths for such fiscal year, and for other purposes.
Passed the House on March 11, 2014 (410-0, Roll call vote 116, via Clerk.House.gov)
Passed the Senate on April 7, 2014 (59-38, Roll call vote 101, via Senate.gov) with amendment
House agreed to Senate amendment on December 4, 2014 (300-119, Roll call vote 551, via Clerk.House.gov) with further amendment
Senate agreed to House amendment on December 12, 2014 (89-11, Roll call vote 325, via Senate.gov)
Signed into law by President Barack Obama on December 19, 2014
The Carl Levin and Howard P. "Buck" McKeon National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2015 (proposed as H.R. 4435, passed as H.R. 3979, Pub. L.113–291 (text)(PDF)) was a National Defense Authorization Act. According to the House Armed Services Committee, which oversaw the legislation, the bill would be "the comprehensive legislation to authorize the budget authority of the Department of Defense and the national security programs of the Department of Energy."[1] The total appropriations that are authorized amount to approximately $600 billion for fiscal year 2015.[2]
The National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) is a United States federal law specifying the budget and expenditures of the United States Department of Defense. Each year's act also includes other provisions "that affect military personnel, retirees, and their family members."[3] The U.S. Congress oversees the defense budget primarily through two yearly bills: the National Defense Authorization Act and defense appropriations bills. The authorization bill determines the agencies responsible for defense, establishes funding levels, and sets the policies under which money will be spent.
This bill was named in honor of Howard P. "Buck" McKeon, because he left his post as chairman of the House Armed Services Committee at the end of the year - along with Carl Levin, the chair of the Senate Armed Services Committee, whom retired at the same time.[4]
Provisions of the bill
The House proposes to keep the Air Force's fleet of A-10 attack aircraft, which cost $635 million.[5]
The legislation banned any additional base closures, despite the Pentagon wanting to.[5]
The bill set the Pentagon's budget level at $495.8 billion.[2]
The bill included an overseas contingency operations budget of $79.4 billion.[2]
An additional $17.9 billion was authorized for defense programs in the Department of Energy.[2]
Original versions of the bill would exempt the Department of Defense from having to adhere to the energy efficiency rules in the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007.[4] This portion of the bill was removed prior to the NDAA2015 being passed.
Congressional Budget Office report
This summary is based largely on the summary provided by the Congressional Budget Office, as ordered reported by the House Committee on Armed Services on May 8, 2014. This is a public domain source.[6]
The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) has completed a preliminary estimate of the direct spending effects of H.R. 4435, the Howard P. "Buck" McKeon National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2015, as ordered reported by the House Committee on Armed Services on May 8, 2014. CBO's complete cost estimate for H.R. 4435, including discretionary costs, will be provided shortly.[6]
Based on legislative language for H.R. 4435, which was provided to CBO on May 9, 2014, CBO estimates that enacting this bill would decrease net direct spending by $1 million in 2015, but increase such spending by $1 million over the 2015-2024 period (see attached table). Because the bill would affect direct spending, pay-as-you-go procedures apply.[6]
A provision to authorize special immigrant visas for certain Afghan allies would increase direct spending by $70 million over that 10-year period. Those costs would be offset by a provision that would increase, by $70 million, receipts from sales of material from the National Defense Stockpile. The bill also would require the United States Secretary of Defense to award the Purple Heart to certain service members who were killed or wounded in attacks in the United States that were motivated or inspired by foreign terrorist organizations. Enacting that provision would increase military retirement payments to some of those awardees by a total of about $1 million over the 2015-2024 period.[6]
The House was expected to debate military sexual assault, closing military bases, and immigration in the process of debating this bill.[5]
Officials in the Defense Department "have repeatedly said that base closures are needed in order to reduce excess infrastructure, but members of Congress are resistant to the idea due to fears that bases in their districts could be closed."[5]
A proposal in Section 3003, titled "Southeast Arizona Land Exchange", is opposed by many Native Americans, including the 57 member tribes of The Affiliated Tribes of Northwest Indians, and by the Great Plains Tribal Chairmen's Association. This proposal would permit a subsidiary of the Rio Tinto mining conglomerate, Resolution Copper, to acquire 2,400 acres of the Tonto National Forest, including Oak Flat which is considered sacred for the San Carlos Apache Tribe, for purposes of copper mining.[8]
Passage
The Bill was signed into law on December 19, 2014.[9]
Sections 841 to 843 of the Act, known at the Never Contract with the Enemy Act, require the United States Secretary of Defense to establish programs in each of its global military commands to ensure that contracting, grant awarding and formation of cooperative agreements do not facilitate the payment of funds (or the provision of goods and services in kind) to persons or entities which are "actively opposing United States or coalition forces involved in a contingency operation in which members of the Armed Forces are actively involved in hostilities".[10]
The Act has extended to a global context similar provisions which related only to combat operations in Iraq and Afghanistan.[11]
.svg)
