Right before Christmas, the government was temporarily funded for the fourth time this fiscal year, but this latest funding law came with a few surprises. In this episode, a feisty Jen outlines the law to expose a favor to the war industry, damage to the Affordable Care Act, a bad sign for the Children’s Health Insurance Program, a giant loophole that paved the way for a new mountain of government debt, and more. You’ll also learn about an “uncontroversial” bill that reduces accountability for foreign fighters who abuse women and that showers literal gifts upon a secretive Drug War commission. But it’s not all bad news! There’s also a reason for hope.
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Bills
H.R. 1370: Continuing Appropriations Act, Department of Defense Missile Defeat and Defense Enhancements Appropriations Act, CHIP and Public Health Funding Extension Act, 2018
Division A
Section 1001: Extends 2017 funding levels until January 19, 2018
Section 1002: Delays the repeal of FISA warrantless spying authorities until January 19, 2018.
Division B
Title I: Missile Defeat and Defense Enhancements
- Appropriates over $3.8 billion for emergency ballistic missile equipment and research.
Title II: Missile Construction Enhancements
- Appropriates $200 million, available until September 30, 2022 to construct an emergency missile field in Alaska
Title III: General Provisions
Section 2001: Clarifies that the money in this law for the Department of Defense will be in addition to the money it will be appropriated for 2018.
Section 2002: For the extra money given to the military in this law, this section creates an exception to the rule that says that no new projects can be started with it.
Section 2003: Clarifies that this money is being appropriated as an emergency requirement.
Division C: Health Provisions
Title I:: Public Health Extenders
Section 3101: Appropriates $550 million for community health centers and $65 million for the National Health Service Corps for the first half of 2018
Section 3102: Appropriates $37.5 million for a program for type I diabetes for the first half of 2018
Section 3103:: Cuts the authorization for the Prevention and Public Health Fund
– 2019: Authorization decreases from $900 million to $800 million (was originally supposed to be $2 billion annually)
– 2020 & 2021: Authorization decreases from $1 billion to $800 million
– 2022: Authorization decreases from $1.5 billion to $1.25 billion.
Title II: Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP)
Section 3201: Appropriates $2.85 billion for the Children’s Health Insurance Program through March 31, 2018, which is a cut from previous appropriations.
Division D: VA Choice
Section 4001: Appropriates an additional $2.1 billion for the Veteran’s Choice Program.
Division E: Budgetary Effects
Section 5001: The budgetary effects of the money for CHIP and VA Choice on the PAYGO scorecard will not be counted.
Section 5002: The effects of the tax bill (the “Reconciliation Act” authorized by H. Con. Res. 71) will not be considered in the PAYGO budget.
S.371: Department of State Authorities Act, Fiscal Year 2017, Improvements Act
Section 2: Orders a bunch of foreign policy related reports to be given to the Appropriations Committees in the House and the Senate.
Section 3: Changes the original law signed in December 2016 to remove the requirement for “swift and effective disciplinary action against” police or troops of UN countries who sexually exploit or abuse people during their peacekeeping missions. In it’s place, the requirement will be that the countries will have to “appropriately hold accountable” their personnel, which is left undefined.
Section 10: Allows members of the Western Hemisphere Drug Policy Commission to “solicit, accept, use, and dispose of gifts, bequests, or devises of money, services, or property, both real and personal, for the purpose of carrying out any duty, power, or authority of the Commission.”
Additional Reading
- Article: Retirements of veteran Republicans fuel GOP fears of losing House majority by Mike DeBonis, The Washington Post, January 10, 2018.
- Article: Drug policy: Our unfinished business in the Americas by Reps. Eliot L. Engel and Matt Salmon, Huffington Post
- Report: Congress rushes Pentagon $4b for missile defense improvements by Marcus Weisgerber, Defense One, December 22, 2017.
- Report: House, Senate pass CR with emergency funding for missile defense, Navy ship repair by Justin Doubleday, Inside Defense, December 21, 2017.
- Article: Collision-damaged USS McCain arrives at Yokosuka for repairs by Leon Cook, Stars and Stripes, December 13, 2017.
- Article: USS Fitzgerald departs Yokosuka for Mississippi from U.S. 7th Fleet Public Affairs, America’s Navy, December 8, 2017.
- Article: Could the U.S. actually shoot down a North Korean missile? by Larlsa Epatko, PBS, November 28, 2017.
- Article: Trump administration proposes $2.1 billion expansion of Fort Greely missile-defense base by Tim Ellis, AlaskaPublic.org, November 14, 2017.
- Press Release: AK delegation applauds major missile defense increase in Trump administration’s budget request by Matt Shuckerow, DonYoung.house.gov, November 6, 2017.
- Report: Counternarcotics: Overview of U.S. efforts in the western hemisphere, U.S. Governtment Accountability Office, October 13, 2017.
- Article: Fort Greely stands firm in face of North Korean threat by Sean Kimmons, Department of Defense, October 11, 2017.
- Article: Doomsday Deflector: What is the THAAD missile system, where is the US program deployed and how does it work? by Patrick Knox, The Sun, September 4, 2017.
- News Report: Hudson Institute congratulates John Walters on congressional appointment to Western Hemisphere Drug Policy Commission by Hudson Institute, PR Newswire, June 29, 2017.
- Article: There’s a flaw in the homeland missile defense system. The Pentagon sees no need to fix it by David Willman, The LA Times, February 26, 2017.
- Press Release: Engel measure to reassess drug policy headed to president’s desk, Committee on Foreign Affairs, December 10, 2016.
- Article: The US government is literally arming the world, and nobody’s even talking about it by William D. Hartung, Mother Jones, July 30, 2016.
- Article: U.S. missile defense system is ‘simply unable to protect public,’ report says by David Willman, The LA Times, July 14, 2016.
- Article: A test of America’s homeland missile defense system found a problem. Why did the Pentagon call it a success? by David William, The LA Times, July 6, 2017.
- Report: Standard Missile-3 by Zach Berger, Missile Defense Advocacy, June 2017.
- Article: ‘Double down’ in fight against opioid abuse by Mary Bono, USA Today, March 6, 2017.
- Report: Assessment of DOD’s reports on status of efforts and options for improving homeland missile defense, U.S. Government Accountability Office, February 17, 2016.
- Article: Bring back the war on drugs by William Bennett and John P. Walters, Boston Globe, September 9, 2015
- Report: Fort Greely to get $50 million toward missile defense system by The Associated Press, Army Times, December 16, 2014.
- Article: Does missile defense actually work? by Roger A. Mola, Airspacemag.com, April 9, 2013.
Resources
- Budget of the U.S. Government: Fiscal Year 2018
- Department of Defense: Budget Amendment Fiscal Year 2018
- Department of Defense: FY 2018 Budget Amendment
- Department of Defense: Military Installations Overview Fort Greely, Alaska
- Department of the Navy: FY 2018 Emergency Contingency Operations Amendments
- OpenSecrets.org: Boeing Co. Client Profile 2017
- OpenSecrets.org: Faegre Baker Daniels Consulting Profile 2017
- OpenSecrets.org: Raytheon Co. Client Profile 2017
- Twitter Post @JordanUhl: Members of Congress Not Seeking Reelection
Visual References
- Boeing Co Stock Summary
Sound Clip Sources
Hearing: U.S. Defense Strategy in South Asia; House Committee on Armed Services; October 3, 2017
Witnesses:
– Joseph F. Dunford Jr.
– James N. Mattis
- 57:25 James Mattis: I think the most important thing is that we get budget predictability and certainty, because without that, we cannot take the—adjust our forces and get predictability into our budgets that permits us to gain the best bang for the buck, to put it bluntly. We’re going into the ninth year with a continuing resolution. As you know, I cannot make new starts under that, even if the cyber domain or the space domain require that we do new things we’ve not had to do before to maintain our competitive edge.
Cover Art
Design by Only Child Imaginations
Music Presented in This Episode
- Intro & Exit: Tired of Being Lied To by David Ippolito (found on Music Alley by mevio)
