{
  "id": "RL32422",
  "type": "CRS Report",
  "typeId": "REPORTS",
  "number": "RL32422",
  "active": false,
  "source": "EveryCRSReport.com",
  "versions": [
    {
      "source": "EveryCRSReport.com",
      "id": 104363,
      "date": "2004-07-22",
      "retrieved": "2016-04-07T20:11:51.312467",
      "title": "The Administration's FY2005 Request for $25 Billion for Operations in Iraq and Afghanistan: Precedents, Options, and Congressional Action",
      "summary": "Administrations have periodically asked Congress to give the Department of Defense flexibility\nin\nallocating funds to cover the costs of military operations. Most recently, on May 12, 2004, the White\nHouse requested $25 billion as a \u201ccontingent emergency reserve fund\u201d for FY2005\nto cover the costs\nof operations in Iraq and Afghanistan for part of the fiscal year. If enacted in its current form, DOD\ncould transfer funds, in any amounts, to individual accounts as long as the Office of Management\nand Budget agreed and Congress received a five-day advance notification. The issue for Congress\nis a perennial one: to determine how much flexibility the Defense Department may need to carry out\nmilitary operations Congress intends to support while also ensuring that funds are used for purposes\nand in amounts that Congress endorses.\n \n Faced with the challenge of balancing DOD\u2019s need for some funding flexibility for\noperations\nwith congressional oversight responsibilities, Congress has responded in various ways to DOD\nrequests. In general, Congress has rejected Administration requests to provide broad authority to\nfinance military operations in advance. In the run-up to the first Persian Gulf War in 1990, for\nexample, Congress rejected an Administration request for blanket authority to spend money\ncontributed by allies. \n \n Congress has, however, periodically appropriated money for ongoing or anticipated military\noperations into flexible \u201ctransfer accounts,\u201d where DOD can then move funds into \nregular accounts\nto meet evolving requirements. At the same time, Congress has generally imposed various\nrestrictions and reporting requirements. \n \n The least restrictive requirements Congress has imposed in recent years applied to $20 billion\nthat Congress appropriated in the immediate aftermath of the terrorist attacks of September 11,\n2001. Although the Administration requested similar flexibility in later supplementals, Congress\ngradually reverted to normal practices by limiting the amount of funding in flexible accounts and\nby requiring advance notification if DOD decides to spend monies in ways that differ from those\nspecified in statutory or report language.\n \n By the standards of earlier congressional action, the Administration\u2019s current request for\na\ncontingency reserve would allow the Defense Department broad flexibility comparable to that\ngranted by Congress immediately after September 11. In congressional action on the FY2005 DOD\nauthorization ( H.R. 4200  and  S. 2400 ), and appropriations bills\n( H.R. 4613 ), both houses limited DOD\u2019s flexibility by allocating most of the $25\nbillion\nto regular appropriation accounts, and setting various reporting requirements. This report reviews\nrecent precedents for funding military operations, outlines options for monitoring that spending, and\nanalyzes congressional action on the Administration\u2019s $25 billion request for FY2005. \nCongress is\nexpected to vote on the conference version of the FY2005 DOD Appropriations bill, H.R.  4613,\nwhich includes the $25 billion, before going on recess on July 26, 2004.",
      "type": "CRS Report",
      "typeId": "REPORTS",
      "active": false,
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      "topics": []
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  ],
  "topics": [
    "Appropriations",
    "Intelligence and National Security",
    "National Defense"
  ]
}