The U.S. Congress allocated more than $20 billion for anti-terrorism efforts and approved a significant increase in military spending over the last fiscal year yesterday.  The House approved the fiscal 2002 defense appropriations bill by a vote of 408-6, and the Senate followed with a vote of 94-2 (Robert Pear, New York Times, Dec. 21).

The bill provides $317.4 billion for the Defense Department in fiscal 2002—$19.2 billion more than in fiscal 2001, excluding emergency supplemental funding.  The bill includes:

*         $881 million for programs to combat terrorism and deal with weapons of mass destruction.  Programs slated to receive money under this provision include Cooperative Threat Reduction programs in the former Soviet Union (see GSN, Dec. 14) and efforts to combat chemical and biological weapons;

*         $7.8 billion for missile defense, including research, development and procurement—an increase of $2.5 billion over fiscal 2001.  The bill will fund all the requested amounts for the Ground-Based Midcourse Segment and the Pacific Test Bed.  It will add $82 million for fielding the PAC-3 theater missile defense system and $66 million for the Arrow missile program (see GSN, Nov. 12).  Congress also decided to restructure the Space Based Infrared System Low (SBIRS-Low) due to questions about its performance and projected cost increases (see GSN, Dec. 19);

*         $1.1 billion for chemical demilitarization;

*         $105.1 billion for operation and maintenance;

*         $60.9 billion for procurement; and

*         $49 billion for research and development, including $219 million for continued B-2 development (House Appropriations Committee release, Dec. 19).

$20 Billion Anti-Terrorism Supplemental

Congress also approved a $20 billion supplemental anti-terrorism measure attached to the appropriations bill.  The supplemental includes:

*         $8.3 billion for homeland defense, including:

o         $2.5 billion for public health and bioterrorism activities—$1 billion more than requested,

o         $226 million for nuclear nonproliferation programs, including $120 million for programs to secure nuclear materials in Russia and other parts of the former Soviet Union (see GSN, Dec. 20),

o         $745 million for FBI counterterrorism efforts—$206 million above the request, and

o         A one-time expenditure of $500 million for Postal Service emergency costs to repair facilities destroyed in the recent terrorist attacks and guard against bioterrorism (see GSN, today);

*         $3.5 billion for the Defense Department for operational costs in the war against terrorism, Pentagon reconstruction and classified programs.  Congress provided $3.8 billion less than U.S. President George W. Bush had requested for the Defense Department in the emergency supplemental; and

*         $8.2 billion for recovery efforts in areas directly affected by the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

The $20 billion supplemental was the second half of the $40 billion supplemental Congress passed on Sept. 14 in response to the Sept. 11 attacks (House Appropriations Committee release, Dec. 19).

More Money for CDC

The Senate also decided yesterday to provide large increases for research at the National Institutes of Health and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention as part of a $123 billion appropriations bill for the departments of Labor, Education and Health and Human Services (Associated Press/New York Times, Dec. 20).  The House of Representatives approved the bill Wednesday (Library of Congress, Dec. 21).

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