II 

114TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 813 

To provide the Secretary of Defense with authority to transfer funds in 

order to mitigate the effects on the Department of Defense of a sequestration of funds available to the Department of Defense, and for other 

purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

MARCH 19, 2015 

Mr. PAUL introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to 

the Committee on Armed Services 

A BILL 

To provide the Secretary of Defense with authority to transfer funds in order to mitigate the effects on the Department of Defense of a sequestration of funds available 

to the Department of Defense, 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, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Military Sequester 

5 Flexibility Act’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. TRANSFER AUTHORITY FOR DEPARTMENT OF DE2 FENSE FUNDS TO MITIGATE THE EFFECTS ON 

3 THE DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE OF A SE4 QUESTRATION OF FUNDS. 

5 (a) AUTHORITY TO TRANSFER AUTHORIZATIONS.— 

6 (1) AUTHORITY.—The Secretary of Defense 

7 may transfer amounts of authorizations made avail8 able to the Department of Defense for a fiscal year 

9 between any such authorizations for that fiscal year 

10 (or any subdivisions thereof) if the Secretary deter11 mines that the transfer— 

12 (A) is necessary to mitigate the effects on 

13 the Department of Defense of a reduction in 

14 the discretionary spending limit or the seques15 tration of direct spending under section 251A 

16 of the Balanced Budget and Emergency Deficit 

17 Control Act of 1985 (2 U.S.C. 901a) or a se18 questration under section 251(a)(1) of such Act 

19 (2 U.S.C. 901(a)(1)); and 

20 (B) is necessary in the national interest. 

21 (2) LIMITATION.—Except as provided in para22 graph (3), the total amount of authorizations that 

23 the Secretary may transfer under the authority of 

24 this section in a fiscal year may not exceed 

25 $50,000,000,000. 


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1 (3) EXCEPTION FOR TRANSFERS BETWEEN

2 MILITARY PERSONNEL AUTHORIZATIONS.—A trans3 fer of funds between military personnel authoriza4 tions shall not be counted toward the dollar limita5 tion in paragraph (2). 

6 (4) TREATMENT OF AMOUNTS TRANS7 FERRED.—Amounts of authorizations transferred 

8 pursuant to paragraph (1) shall be merged with and 

9 be available for the same purposes as the authoriza10 tion to which transferred. 

11 (b) LIMITATIONS.—The authority provided by sub12 section (a) to transfer authorizations— 

13 (1) may only be used to provide authority for 

14 items that have a higher priority than the items 

15 from which authority is transferred; 

16 (2) may not be used to provide authority for an 

17 item that has been denied authorization by Con18 gress; and 

19 (3) may not reduce the amount authorized for 

20 the fiscal year concerned for an item by an amount 

21 in excess of the amount equal to 50 percent of the 

22 amount otherwise authorized to be appropriated for 

23 that fiscal year for that item. 


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1 (c) NOTICE TO CONGRESS.—The Secretary of De2 fense shall notify Congress of each proposed use of the 

3 transfer authority in subsection (a). 

4 (d) CONGRESSIONAL DISAPPROVAL.—A transfer may 

5 not occur under the authority in subsection (a) if Congress 

6 enacts a joint resolution disapproving the transfer within 

7 the 30-day period beginning on the notice to Congress of 

8 the transfer pursuant to subsection (c). 

9 (e) EFFECT ON AUTHORIZATION AMOUNTS.—A 

10 transfer made from one account to another under the au11 thority of this section shall be deemed to increase the 

12 amount authorized for the account to which the amount 

13 is transferred by an amount equal to the amount trans14 ferred. 

15 (f) CONSTRUCTION OF AUTHORITY.—The authority 

16 to transfer funds under this section in addition to any 

17 other authority available to the Secretary of Defense to 

18 transfer funds for the Department of Defense under any 

19 other provision of law. 

20 (g) SUNSET.—The authority to transfer funds under 

21 this section shall expire on September 30, 2023. 

Æ 


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