I 

109TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 4898 

To reallocate funds toward sensible priorities such as improved children’s 

education, increased children’s access to health care, expanded job training, and increased energy efficiency and conservation through a reduction 

of wasteful defense spending, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MARCH 8, 2006 

Ms. WOOLSEY (for herself, Ms. LEE, Mr. GRIJALVA, Mr. KUCINICH, Mr. 

DAVIS of Illinois, Mr. NADLER, Mr. MCDERMOTT, Mr. OWENS, Mr. 

MCGOVERN, Mr. CLAY, Mr. CONYERS, Mr. HONDA, Ms. JACKSON-LEE

of Texas, Mr. STARK, Ms. SCHAKOWSKY, and Ms. MCKINNEY) introduced 

the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Armed Services, and in addition to the Committees on Energy and Commerce, Education and the Workforce, Homeland Security, and International Relations, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each 

case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of 

the committee concerned 

A BILL 

To reallocate funds toward sensible priorities such as improved children’s education, increased children’s access 

to health care, expanded job training, and increased energy efficiency and conservation through a reduction of 

wasteful defense spending, and for other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 


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1 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

2 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Common Sense Budget 

3 Act of 2006’’. 

4 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

5 Congress finds the following: 

6 (1) The Department of Defense’s increasingly 

7 large budget provides for total defense spending that 

8 is greater than that of the other 192 countries in the 

9 world combined, yet— 

10 (A) the United States now ranks 25th in 

11 the world in infant mortality, behind most of 

12 the nations of Western Europe and the indus13 trialized Far East, while $60,000,000,000 of 

14 the United States defense budget is expended 

15 annually on weapons designed to thwart Soviet 

16 Union aggression during the Cold War and 

17 other wasteful programs; 

18 (B) Federal spending on elementary and 

19 secondary education has fallen to less than 10 

20 percent of the proposed 2007 outlays for the 

21 Department of Defense, while schools through22 out the Nation are eliminating programs in 

23 music, foreign language, and physical edu24 cation; 

25 (C) 61,000,000 individuals in the United 

26 States lack health insurance during some period 


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1 of any given year, and half that number of indi2 viduals (over 10,000,000 of whom are children) 

3 lack such insurance for the entire year; 

4 (D) the Government Accountability Office 

5 estimates that— 

(i) 1 6 ⁄3 of the Nation’s public schools, 

7 serving 14,000,000 children, need exten8 sive repair or need to have their entire 

9 physical plants replaced; 

10 (ii) 85 percent of the Nation’s public 

11 schools, 73,000 facilities serving 

12 40,000,000 children, need some repair 

13 work; and 

14 (iii) the total cost for the repairs and 

15 replacement described in this subpara16 graph is over $120,000,000,000; 

17 (E) research conducted by the National 

18 Center for Education Statistics shows that mid19 dle school students in the United States rank 

20 18th in science test scores and 19th in math 

21 test scores internationally, behind students in 

22 such countries as the Republic of Korea, the 

23 Slovak Republic, Singapore, the Russian Fed24 eration, and Malaysia; and 


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1 (F) the Government Accountability Office 

2 estimated in 2003 that the Department of De3 fense could not account for over 

4 $1,000,000,000,000 in funds appropriated to 

5 the Department of Defense. 

6 (2) The United States spends over 

7 $20,000,000,000 annually to maintain its nuclear 

8 arsenal, although many of the weapons in that arse9 nal no longer have practical utility. The United 

10 States needs to eliminate spending on obsolete weap11 ons systems and use the funds saved to meet urgent 

12 domestic needs for health care, education, job train13 ing, and increased energy efficiency and conserva14 tion. 

15 (3) The Department of Defense is spending bil16 lions of dollars developing space weapons and pre17 paring plans to deploy them, although— 

18 (A) those expenditures and plans con19 travene White House policy, in place for a dec20 ade, that emphasizes arms control and non21 proliferation pacts; and 

22 (B) the development of those weapons is 

23 opposed by many United States allies, who have 

24 rightly stated that a shift in policy towards that 

25 development will create an arms race in space. 


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1 (4) The United States needs to reduce its de2 pendence on foreign oil by promoting long-term en3 ergy security through greater investment in sustain4 able and renewable energy alternatives. 

5 (5) The United States is facing unprecedented 

6 challenges to national security and broader national 

7 interests. Sustainable development and humanitarian 

8 assistance programs should be a central part of 

9 United States foreign policy. To address the root 

10 causes of instability and terrorism and undercut the 

11 ability of terrorist organizations to recruit effec12 tively, the United States needs to address the global 

13 challenges of poverty, illiteracy, unemployment, dis14 ease, and disaster by increasing funding for sustain15 able development and humanitarian assistance pro16 grams. 

17 SEC. 3. REDUCTIONS IN AMOUNTS AVAILABLE FOR CER18 TAIN DEFENSE AND ENERGY PROGRAMS. 

19 (a) REDUCTIONS IN AMOUNTS AVAILABLE FOR PRO20 GRAMS.— 

21 (1) DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE PROGRAMS.— 

22 (A) IN GENERAL.—Notwithstanding any 

23 other provision of law, of the amounts appro24 priated or otherwise available for fiscal year 

25 2007 for each program or account of the DeVerDate Aug 31 2005 06:04 Mar 09, 2006 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4898.IH H4898

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1 partment of Defense specified in subparagraph 

2 (B)— 

3 (i) the amount available in such fiscal 

4 year for such program or account shall be 

5 reduced by the amount specified with re6 spect to such program or account in that 

7 subparagraph; and 

8 (ii) an amount equal to the aggregate 

9 amount of all such reductions under clause 

10 (i) shall be available instead for the pur11 poses set forth in subsection (b). 

12 (B) SPECIFIED PROGRAMS AND ACCOUNTS

13 AND AMOUNTS.—The programs and accounts, 

14 and amounts with respect to such programs 

15 and accounts, specified in this subparagraph 

16 are as follows: 

17 (i) The F–22 fighter aircraft pro18 gram, $2,800,000,000. 

19 (ii) The F–35 Joint Strike fighter air20 craft program, $3,300,000,000. 

21 (iii) The C–130J aircraft program, 

22 $1,600,000,000. 

23 (iv) The V–22 Osprey aircraft pro24 gram, $2,100,000,000. 


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1 (v) The Virginia class submarine pro2 gram, $2,300,000,000. 

3 (vi) The next generation destroyer 

4 (DD(X)) program, $3,400,000,000. 

5 (vii) The Ballistic Missile Defense 

6 program, $8,300,000,000. 

7 (viii) Cross-service accounts for re8 search, development, test, and evaluation, 

9 $5,000,000,000. 

10 (ix) Accounts providing funds for per11 sonnel and other costs associated with 

12 drawdowns and other reductions in the 

13 Armed Forces, $5,000,000,000. 

14 (x) Space weapons programs, 

15 $5,000,000,000. 

16 (xi) The Future Combat System, 

17 $2,700,000,000. 

18 (xii) Programs relating to the oper19 ations of the Department of Defense that 

20 can be combined to achieve efficiencies in 

21 such operations, $5,000,000,000. 

22 (2) DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY NATIONAL SECU23 RITY PROGRAMS.—Notwithstanding any other provi24 sion of law, of the amounts appropriated or other25 wise available for fiscal year 2007 for the DepartVerDate Aug 31 2005 06:04 Mar 09, 2006 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4898.IH H4898

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1 ment of Energy for the National Nuclear Security 

2 Administration for national security programs— 

3 (A) the amount available in such fiscal 

4 year for such programs shall be reduced by 

5 $14,000,000,000; and 

6 (B) an amount equal to the amount of the 

7 reduction under subparagraph (A) shall be 

8 available instead for the purposes set forth in 

9 subsection (b). 

10 (b) DOMESTIC PROGRAMS.—From amounts made 

11 available under subsection (a)— 

12 (1) $10,000,000,000 shall be made available to 

13 carry out the modernization of school facilities under 

14 section 8007(b) of the Elementary and Secondary 

15 Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 7707(b)); 

16 (2) $10,000,000,000 shall be made available to 

17 carry out State child health plans under title XXI 

18 of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 1397aa et 

19 seq.); 

20 (3) $5,000,000,000 shall be made available to 

21 carry out employment and training activities under 

22 chapter 5 of subtitle B of title I of the Workforce 

23 Investment Act of 1998 (29 U.S.C. 2861 et seq.); 

24 (4) $10,000,000,000 shall be made available to 

25 the Secretary of Energy for such programs as that 


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1 Secretary may specify to increase energy efficiency 

2 and conservation and increase investment in sustain3 able and renewable energy alternatives; 

4 (5) $13,000,000,000 shall be made available to 

5 the Secretary of State for such sustainable develop6 ment and humanitarian assistance programs as that 

7 Secretary may specify to alleviate the global chal8 lenges of poverty, illiteracy, unemployment, disease, 

9 and disaster; 

10 (6) $5,000,000,000 shall be available to the 

11 Secretary of Homeland Security to improve safe12 guards pursuant to the Homeland Security Act of 

13 2002; 

14 (7) $5,000,000,000 shall be made available to 

15 reduce the deficit; and 

16 (8) $2,000,000,000 shall be made available for 

17 medical research. 

18 SEC. 4. EFFECTIVE DATE. 

19 This Act takes effect 90 days after the date of enact20 ment of this Act. 

Æ 


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