The House Committee on Appropriations reported its Military Quality of Life and Veterans Affairs appropriations bill ( H.R. 2528 ) on May 23, 2005 ( H.Rept. 109-95 ). The House undertook consideration of the bill on May 26 and passed it the same day. H.R. 2528 was received in the Senate on May 26, read twice and referred to the Committee on Appropriations. On July 21, the Senate Committee on Appropriations reported its amended version of the bill. The Senate took up the measure on September 22, 2005, passing it the same day with an amendment and an amendment to the title. The House disagreed to the amendment on November 3 and appointed conferees. The conferees filed a conference report ( H.Rept. 109-305 ) on November 17. Both House and Senate agreed to the conference report on November 18. The bill was signed by the President on November 30, 2005 ( P.L. 109-114 ). The House Committee on Armed Services reported its version of the Defense Authorization bill ( H.R. 1815 ) on May 20 ( H.Rept. 109-89 ). The House passed the bill on May 25. It was received in the Senate, read twice, and referred to the Senate Committee on Armed Services on June 6. The Committee discharged the bill on November 15. The Senate substituted the language of S. 1042 and passed the amended bill by Unanimous Consent. The House instructed its conferees on December 15. On December 16, the conferees agreed to file their report ( H.Rept. 109-360 ). The report was filed late on December 18 and was taken up and passed by the House early the next morning. The Senate took up the report on December 19, 2005. The bill was cleared for the White House on December 21 and was enacted by the President on January 3, 2006 ( P.L. 109-163 ). The House Committee on Appropriations reported an original measure on June 10, 2005 ( H.Rept. 109-119 ). The House undertook consideration of the bill on June 20 and passed it the same day. The Senate received the bill on June 21, referred it to the Committee on Appropriations, and reported it with an amendment in the nature of a substitute without written report on June 28, 2005. The measure was laid before the Senate on September 29, at which time the Chairman of the Subcommittee on Defense, Senator Ted Stevens (AK) filed a written report ( S.Rept. 109-141 ). The Senate passed an amended version of the bill on October 7, 2005, and insisted on a conference. On December 14, the House agreed to the conference. The conference filed its report ( H.Rept. 109-359 ) with the House early on December 19, where it was passed within an hour. The Senate received the report the same day. The Senate introduced and passed a concurrent resolution ( S.Con.Res. 74 ) that would correct the bill's enrollment by striking Division C, which in part removed restrictions on drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Reserve (ANWR). A unanimous-consent agreement stipulated that Senate agreement to the conference report would be vitiated should the House not agree to S.Con.Res. 74 . The Senate then agreed to the conference report by unanimous vote on December 21, 2005, clearing the bill for the White House, and a message on Senate action was sent to the House on December 22. The bill was enacted as P.L. 109-148 on December 30, 2005. During the last week of January 2005, Representative Jerry Lewis, chairman of the House Committee on Appropriations, proposed a significant reorganization of the Committee's subcommittee structure and realignment of subcommittee jurisdictions. In the resulting redistribution of subcommittee responsibilities, the Subcommittees on Veterans Affairs, Housing and Urban Development (VA-HUD) and Military Construction were eliminated and some of their responsibilities were assigned to a new Subcommittee on Military Quality of Life and Veterans Affairs under the chairmanship of Representative James T. Walsh. The new subcommittee was given jurisdiction for appropriations to the following accounts: Department of Defense : Military Construction, Army, Navy (including Marine Corps), Air Force, Defense-wide, and Guard and Reserve Forces, Facilities Sustainment, Restoration and Modernization, Army, Navy (including Marine Corps), Air Force, and Guard and Reserve Forces, Chemical Demilitarization Construction, Defense-wide Military Family Housing Construction and Operation and Maintenance, Army, Navy (including Marine Corps), Air Force, and Defense-wide Family Housing Improvement Fund, Military Unaccompanied Housing Improvement Fund, Homeowners Assistance Fund, Basic Allowance for Housing, Army, Navy (including Marine Corps), Air Force, and Guard and Reserve Forces, Environmental Restoration Accounts, Base Realignment and Closure Account, NATO Security Investment Program, Defense Health Program Account. Department of Veterans AffairsRelated Agencies : American Battle Monuments Commission, Armed Forces Retirement Home, Cemeterial Expenses, Army (DOD), Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims. The Senate Committee on Appropriations undertook its own reorganization under the chairmanship of Senator Thad Cochran. In the ensuing reassignment of responsibilities, the Committee's Subcommittee on Veterans Affairs, Housing and Urban Development was dissolved. The Subcommittee on Military Construction retained its responsibility for military construction appropriations and absorbed additional appropriation obligations for Veterans Affairs, the American Battle Monuments Commission, Cemeterial Expenses, Army (Arlington National Cemetery), the Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims, and the Selective Service Commission. Other appropriation accounts did not transfer. The reconstituted subcommittee continued under the chairmanship of Senator Kay Bailey Hutchinson and was renamed the Subcommittee on Military Construction and Veterans Affairs. House and Senate appropriators disagreed over whether to include several of the accounts governed by differing jurisdictions between the chambers (i.e., Defense Health Program, Basic Allowance for Housing). During the weeks before conferencing, these differences were resolved when the House agreed to follow Senate preferences and place the disputed accounts in the Defense appropriations bill ( H.R. 2863 ) with the understanding that consideration will alternate annually between House- and Senate-preferred structures. All of the military operating forces are undergoing significant structural reorganization as part of the Department of Defense transformation effort. The Army may be undertaking the most profound of these initiatives as Chief of Staff Gen. Peter J. Schoomaker guides its transition from an organization based on the division to one based on the smaller, lighter brigade. The Army has traditionally placed divisions in garrison as a unit. One of the implications of breaking up the division into a number of smaller brigades could be to increase the number of installations that could be candidates as new garrisons. On July 27, the Department of Defense announced locations that will host 44 of the Army's new "Modular Brigade Combat Teams" (MBCT). The Senate Appropriations Committee noted in its report ( S.Rept. 109-105 ) that the Army's change in organization is intertwined with two other initiatives, Military Base Realignment and Closure, and the redeployment of 60,000 - 70,000 troops from overseas garrisons to posts in the United States and its territories over the next decade. The Committee drew the attention of the Army to its expectations that the service would be requesting funding adequate to enable all three to be carried out simultaneously. The 2005 round of Base Realignment and Closures (BRAC), authorized by Congress in December 2001 as Title XXX of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2002, came to full maturity during 2005 with the appointment of the nine-member BRAC Commission (officially known as the Defense Base Closure and Realignment Commission of 2005) in early April, the creation of its supporting staff in early May, the release of the Department of Defense List of Recommended BRAC Actions to the Commission on May 13, and the initiation of a series of Commission hearings in Washington and around the country. The Commission presented its own list of recommended BRAC actions to the President on September 8, 2005. The President approved these recommendations and so notified Congress on September 15, 2005. Under the Defense Base Closure and Realignment Act of 1990 (10 USC 2687 note), as amended, Congress had a maximum of 45 days from receipt of the President's list to pass a joint resolution disapproving the list. Two such resolutions were introduced on September 20, 2005, H.J.Res. 64 by Representative Harold E. Ford, Jr., of Tennessee, and H.J.Res. 65 by Representative Ray LaHood, of Illinois. H.J.Res. 65 came to the floor on October 27 and failed on a recorded vote of 85-324 (Roll no. 548). The 2005 round marked the fifth time that a commission took part in determining which military installations are to be closed or significantly reduced in scope. The first, the Base Realignment and Closure Commission, was chartered by, and reported its recommendations to, the Secretary of Defense. All subsequent commissions were created by Congress in the Defense Base Closure and Realignment Act of 1990, as amended. Three subsequent rounds (in 1991, 1993, and 1995) were authorized by Congress in the original legislation. The 2005 round was authorized in an amendment to the original law. Several BRAC-related issues arose during the formulation and consideration of the list of recommendations, as indicated below. The list of recommended BRAC actions released by the Department of Defense on May 13 included a significant number that affected Reserve Component (Reserves and National Guard) sites.