The House passed the FY2012 Military Construction/Veterans Affairs appropriations bill (H.R. 2055) this week, making it the second spending bill passed in the House.  The FY2012 Homeland Security appropriations bill passed in the House last week.

The bill would provide $14 billion for total Military Construction accounts, $750 million below the president’s request.   Most the reductions would come from $650 million in cuts to active military facilities construction projects.  Funding reductions totaling $364 million were made to eight projects:  Army Aviation Complex Phase III at Ft. Wainwright, Alaska; two Army commissary-type facilities in Germersheim, Germany; Air Force Strike Fuel Maintenance Facility at Andersen AFB, Guam; Air Force F-35 AGE Facility at Nellis AFB, Nevada; Ft. Bliss Hospital Phase IIIA, Texas; Ambulatory Care Center at Andrews AFB, Maryland; and Mountainview Operations Facility at Buckley AFB, Colorado.  The committee report explained that these cuts were made primarily due to the lateness of the FY2011 appropriations process.  The House bill rescinds $288 million from Army, Navy and Marine Corps, Air Force, and Defensewide prior-year construction projects.  The remaining $100 million in reductions comes from prior-year rescissions due to Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) bid savings.

The House bill fully funds all Guard and Reserve construction accounts, except for Army National Guard (ANG) construction.   A floor amendment added $25 million to the ANG account and took $25 million from the NATO Security Investment Program.  The bill fully funds requests for the requests for Family Housing and Chemical Demilitarization construction.   A $50 million add to the BRAC 1990 account is offset by a $50 million rescission to the Base Realignment and Closure 2005 account.