13 May 2011
As they marked up next year's defense authorization bill, members of the U.S. House Armed Services Committee moved hundreds of millions of dollars out of the "Mission Force Enhancement Transfer Fund" and put it toward new and existing programs in the defense budget.
But what is the Mission Force Enhancement Transfer Fund and why does it have so much extra cash to go around? Does the Mission Force, whatever that is, no longer need enhancing?
The unfamiliar funding source was created by the House Armed Services Committee, whose leadership is under a strict no-earmarks ban mandated by House Republican leadership. The ban forbids members from directing money toward specific projects in their districts. However, under the ban, House members may put forward district-neutral policy proposals but they have to identify offsets within the budget for each of these spending increases.
The Mission Force Enhancement Transfer Fund serves as the pot of money that members can use to offset their legislative adds.
House Armed Services Committee Chairman Rep. Buck McKeon, R-Calif., created this authority "so the Department of Defense will have significant resources to address long-standing capability gaps as identified by the committee's oversight and the Department of Defense's own Quadrennial Defense Review," McKeon spokesman Josh Holly said.
When marking up the defense authorization bill, the committee began by finding efficiencies and making cuts across the Pentagon's 2012 budget request. The committee used most of these savings for what it considers higher priority programs, for example, an extra $100 million for missile defense and $425 million to keep open production lines for the Army's Abrams tanks and the Bradley fighting vehicles. It also used the money to fund the service's unfunded requirements lists. (Source: Defense News)
Source;
http://bit.ly/jrjQKa
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