The conference committee for military construction appropriations printed itsconference report ( H.Rept. 106-266 ) on July 27, 1999. The conference report agreedto a total $8.4 billion military construction appropriation, which is $776 million lessthan current FY1999 funding. The conference split the difference between theSenate-approved $8.3 billion and House-approved $8.5 billion amounts. The Housepassed the conference report on July 29, 1999, by a vote of 412-8. The Senatepassed the conference report on August 3, 1999, by voice vote. The bill became law( P.L. 106-52 ) on August 17, 1999. The Department of Defense (DOD) manages the world's largest dedicatedinfrastructure, covering over 40,000 square miles of land and a physical plant worthover $500 billion. The military construction appropriations bill provides a large partof the funding to maintain this infrastructure. The bill funds construction projectsand real property maintenance of the active Army, Navy & Marine Corps, Air Force,and their reserve components; defense-wide construction; U.S. contributions to theNATO Security Investment Program (formerly called the NATO InfrastructureProgram); and military family housing operations and construction. The bill alsoprovides funding for the Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) account, whichfinances most base realignment and closure costs, including construction of newfacilities for transferred personnel and functions, and environmental cleanup atclosing sites. The military construction appropriations bill is only one of several annual pieces of legislation that provide funding for national defense. Other major legislationincludes (1) the defense appropriations bill, that provides funds for all militaryactivities of the Department of Defense, except for military construction; (2) thenational defense authorization bill, that authorizes appropriations for nationaldefense (1) , and (3) the energy and water developmentappropriations bill, that providesfunding for atomic energy defense activities of the Department of Energy. Two otherappropriations bills, VA-HUD-Independent Agencies and Commerce-Justice-State,also include small amounts for national defense. In addition, the energy and waterdevelopment appropriations bill provides funds for civil projects carried out by theU.S. Army Corps of Engineers. The annual defense authorization bill authorizes all the activities in the defense appropriation measures described above. Therefore, major debates over defensepolicy and funding issues, including military construction can be also found in theauthorization bill. Since issues in the defense authorization and appropriations billsintertwine, this report highlights salient parts of the authorization bill, along with themilitary construction appropriation process. The separate military construction appropriations bill dates to the late 1950s when a large defense build-up occurred in response to intercontinental ballisticmissile threats and the Soviet launch of Sputnik. Defense construction spendingsoared, as facilities were hardened, missile silos were constructed, and otherinfrastructure was built. The appropriations committees established militaryconstruction subcommittees to deal with this new level of activity. Consequently, theseparate military construction bill was created. The first stand-alone militaryconstruction bill was in FY1959, P.L. 85-852. Previously, military constructionfunding was provided through annual defense appropriations or supplementalappropriations bills. Military construction appropriations are the major, but not the sole, source of funds for facility investments by the military services and defense agencies. Thedefense appropriations bill provides some funds for real property maintenance inoperation and maintenance accounts. In addition, funds for construction andmaintenance of Morale, Welfare, and Recreation-related facilities are partiallyprovided through proceeds of commissaries, recreation user fees, and other income. Most funds appropriated by Congress each year must be obligated in that fiscal year. Military construction appropriations are an exception, since these funds aremade available for obligation for five fiscal years. Consideration of the military construction budget starts when the President's budget is delivered to the Congress in February. For FY2000, the Presidentrequested $5.4 billion in funding for the military construction program and advanceappropriations (2) request of $3.1 billion to be scoredin FY2001. Table 1 shows the key legislative steps necessary for the enactment of theFY2000 military construction appropriation. Table 1. Status of Military Construction Appropriations,FY2000 Conference Action. On July 27, 1999, the conference committee released its military construction appropriationsreport, H.Rept. 106-266 . The conference report agreed to a total $8.4 billion militaryconstruction appropriation, which is $776 million less than current FY1999 funding. The conference split the difference between the Senate- approved $8.3 billion andHouse-approved $8.5 billion amounts. The House passed the conference report on July 29, 1999, by a vote of 412-8. The Senate passed the conference report on August 3, 1999, by voice vote. The billbecame law ( P.L. 106-52 ) on August 17, 1999. Senate Action. On June 10, 1999, the Senate Appropriations Committee (SAC) finished marking up its version of theFY2000 military construction bill, S. 1205 ( S.Rept. 106-74 ). The Senatepassed the bill with no amendments on June 16, 1999, by a vote of 97-2. The SAC decided, as written in its report ( S.Rept 106-74 ) to: fully fund the President's budgetrequest, reject the advance appropriationsproposal, direct DOD to fully fund future military construction projectsin the future, cut "excess" funding for construction contingencies( S. 1205 , Sec. 125), create a new Family Housing Revitalization Transfer Fund tofund family housing improvement projects, and recommend only $25 million for the Family HousingImprovement Fund, based on adjusted estimates of number of housing privatizationprojects. The SAC report also highlighted the Committee's concern over the Pentagon's acquisition and planning for forward operating locations for drug interdiction andcounter-drug activities. The proposal was to construct three bases in Costa Rica,Ecuador, and Curacao using funds from the "Drug Interdiction and Counter-drugActivities, Defense" appropriations. The SAC believes that it is premature toappropriate funds for these bases until Congress has been provided a long-rangemaster plan for each location. The Committee directed the Pentagon to submit futurerequests for specific military construction projects in support of drug interdiction andcounter-drug activities as a part of the budget request for military construction. Therefore, the Committee only recommended $5.0 million of planning and designfunds, instead of the $42.8 million that the Pentagon requested. House Action. On July 2, 1999, the House Appropriations Committee (HAC) finished marking up its version of theFY2000 military construction bill, H.R. 2465 ( H.Rept. 106-221 ). TheHouse passed the bill with no amendments on July 13, 1999, by a vote of 418-4. TheHAC decided, like the SAC, to: fully fund the President's budget request, reject the advance appropriationsproposal, direct DOD to fully fund future military construction projectsin the future, and cut "excess" funding for construction contingencies( H.R. 2465 , Sec. 128). On May 14, the Senate Armed Services Committee's (SASC) FY2000 defense authorization bill ( S. 1059 ) rejected the Administration's advancedappropriations request and instead approved the entire $8.5 billion request and added$250 million. The SASC included $200 million in high-priority projects submittedby the military services that were not funded in the President's request and more than$140 in quality of life projects such as barracks, family housing, and childdevelopment centers. On May 27, 1999, the Senate approved its version of theFY2000 defense authorization bill, S. 1059 , by a vote of 92-3. S. 1059 passed the House, in lieu of H.R. 1401 , on June 14,1999. The conference report was filed in the House, H.Rept. 106-301 , on August 5,1999. On May 19, the House Armed Services Committee's (HASC) FY2000 defense authorization bill ( H.R. 1401 ) rejected the Administration's advancedappropriations request and instead approved the entire $8.5 billion request and added$100 million. The HASC added nearly $1.1 billion to the President's militaryhousing request for military family housing, which the committee sees as a priority. On June 10, 1999, the House passed its version H.R. 1401 , on a voteof 365 - 58. On July 1, the House Armed Services Subcommittee on Installations and Facilities had a hearing on economic development conveyances. The hearing wasbased on a Pentagon proposal to amend the statutory framework governing theeconomic development conveyance process for real property affected by the BaseRealignment and Closure (BRAC) process. The proposal would give no-costconveyances to local authorities to spur job creation and facility reuse. Onedownside is that the Pentagon will recoup less money from the BRAC process, andthis could lead to the need for direct appropriations to help transition the no-costconveyance properties. The Senate went ahead and added the Pentagon's proposalin its version of the defense authorization bill. The conference report of the defense authorization bill was completed on August 5, 1999. Split Funding and Advance Appropriations Proposal for the FY2000 Military Construction Budget Request. (3) The Defense Department's FY2000 military construction budget plan includes $8.5billion worth of projects, but the Administration is requesting only $5.4 billion inappropriations.