Topic: Defense — Personnel Issues
Subject: Armed forces and national security
Date: 2010-07-22 00:00:00

Military Construction and Veterans Affairs and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2011 - Title I: Department of Defense - Appropriates funds for FY2011 for the Department of Defense (DOD) for: (1) military construction for the Army, Navy and Marine Corps, and Air Force (military departments), DOD, the Army and Air National Guard, and the Army, Navy, and Air Force reserves; (2) the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) Security Investment Program; (3) family housing construction and related operation and maintenance for the military departments and DOD; (4) the Department of Defense Family Housing Improvement Fund; (5) the Homeowners Assistance Fund; (6) chemical demilitarization construction; and (7) the Department of Defense Base Closure Accounts of 1990 and 2005. Specifies restrictions and authorizations regarding the use of funds appropriated in this title and in other military construction appropriations Acts. (Sec. 110) Prohibits appropriated funds from being used to initiate a new installation overseas without prior notification to the congressional appropriations committees. (Sec. 113) Directs the Secretary of Defense to notify the appropriate congressional committees 30 days in advance of the plans and scope of any proposed military exercise involving U.S. personnel if construction costs are anticipated to exceed $100,000. (Sec. 120) Requires the Secretary of the military department concerned, at least 60 days prior to issuing any solicitation for a contract with the private sector for military family housing, to notify the appropriations committees of any guarantees (including the making of mortgage or rental payments) proposed to be made to the private party in the event of: (1) the closure or realignment of the installation for which the housing is provided; (2) a reduction in force of units stationed at such installation; or (3) the extended deployment overseas of units stationed at such installation. (Sec. 121) Authorizes the transfer of DOD funds for expenses associated with the Homeowners Assistance Program under the Metropolitan Demonstration Cities and Metropolitan Development Act of 1966. (Sec. 124) Places specified restrictions and limitations on the obligation or expenditure of funds made available in this title or in any other military construction appropriations Act to carry out a military construction, land acquisition, or family housing project at or for a military installation approved for closure, or for supporting a function that has been approved for realignment to another installation, in 2005 under the Defense Base Closure and Realignment Act of 1990. (Sec. 125) Provides for the transfer of lapsed unobligated military construction and family housing funds into the Foreign Currency Fluctuations, Defense account. (Sec. 126) Prohibits this Act's funds from being used for any action that relates to or promotes the expansion of the boundaries or size of the Pinon Canyon Maneuver Site, Colorado. Title II: Department of Veterans Affairs - Authorizes appropriations for the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) for: (1) the Veterans Benefits Administration; (2) readjustment benefits; (3) veterans insurance and indemnities; (4) the Veterans Housing Benefit Program Fund; (5) the Vocational Rehabilitation Loans Program; (6) the Native American Veteran Housing Loan Program; (7) the Veterans Health Administration (including for medical and prosthetic research and information technology systems); (8) the National Cemetery Administration; (9) the Office of the Inspector General; (10) construction for major and minor projects; and (11) grants for the construction of state extended care facilities and veterans cemeteries. Specifies restrictions and authorizations regarding the use of funds appropriated in this title. (Sec. 210) Makes funds from this title available to reimburse expenses of the Office of Resolution Management and the Office of Employment Discrimination Complaint Adjudication, within specified limits. (Sec. 216) Authorizes the Secretary of Veterans Affairs (Secretary, for purposes of this title) to enter into agreements with certain Indian tribes and tribal organizations in rural Alaska to provide health care, including behavioral health and dental care. (Sec. 219) Directs the Secretary to report quarterly to the appropriations committees on the financial status of the Veterans Health Administration (VHA). (Sec. 224) Authorizes the Secretary to use specified funds for cooperative agreements to conduct outreach to ensure that veterans in underserved areas receive the care and benefits for which they are eligible. (Sec. 225) Allows certain VA funds to be used to fund operations of the Captain James A. Lovell Federal Health Care Center. (Sec. 229) Authorizes appropriations for VA general operating expenses, to be used to increase VA workforce capacity and capabilities. (Sec. 230) Directs the Secretary to report to the appropriations committees on: (1) the planned funding allocation from each of the VHA accounts to the National Reserve Fund and any subsequent increase of 10% or more in these allocations; and (2) all bid savings in major construction projects that total at least $5 million or 5% of the programmed amount, whichever is less. (Sec. 233) Earmarks specified funds authorized under the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2010 for renewable energy projects at medical facility campuses constructed, altered, or acquired by the VA. Title III: Related Agencies - Appropriates funds for: (1) the American Battle Monuments Commission; (2) the U.S. Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims; (3) cemeterial expenses; and (4) the Armed Forces Retirement Home. Title IV: Overseas Contingency Operations - Appropriates funds for overseas contingency operations for military construction for the Army, the Air Force, and DOD. Title V: General Provisions - Specifies restrictions and authorities regarding the use of funds appropriated in this Act. (Sec. 508) Prohibits this Act's funds from being used for: (1) a project or program named for an individual serving as a Member, Delegate,or Resident Commissioner of the U.S. Congress; (2) funding the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN); (3) in contravention of certification requirements of the Iran Sanctions Act of 1996; (4) maintaining or establishing a computer network unless such network blocks the viewing, downloading, and exchanging of pornography; (5) the processing of new enhanced use leases at the National Homes for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers located in Milwaukee, Wisconsin; (6) the payment of first-class travel by an agency employee in contravention of specified sections of the Code of Federal Regulations; (7) exercising the power of eminent domain without the payment of just compensation; and (8) renovating or constructing any facility in the continental United States for the purpose of housing any individual detained at any time after September 11, 2001, at United States Naval Station, Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.