{
  "id": "RL34275",
  "type": "CRS Report",
  "typeId": "REPORTS",
  "number": "RL34275",
  "active": false,
  "source": "EveryCRSReport.com, University of North Texas Libraries Government Documents Department",
  "versions": [
    {
      "source": "EveryCRSReport.com",
      "id": 350663,
      "date": "2008-04-30",
      "retrieved": "2016-04-07T03:28:09.768663",
      "title": "How Long Can the Defense Department Finance FY2008 Operations in Advance of Supplemental Appropriations?",
      "summary": "On December 18, 2007, the Senate, and on December 19, the House, approved a consolidated FY2008 appropriations bill, H.R. 2764, that includes $70\u00a0billion in emergency supplemental appropriations for the Department of Defense for military operations in Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere. The President signed the bill into law on December 26. Congress\u2019s agreement to provide $70 billion for overseas military operations resolved a dispute over war funding that had led the Defense Department to announce plans to shut down all but essential Army and Marine Corps operations early in 2008. In the absence of supplemental appropriations, officials warned that money for Army operations would run out by the end of February and for the Marine Corps in March, even after a transfer of $4.1 billion to the Army. On November 15, 2007, Secretary of Defense Gates said that the Defense Department would \u201ccease operations at all Army bases by mid-February next year,\u201d which would result in furloughs of 100,000 civilian and another 100,000 contractor personnel.\nThe consolidated appropriations bill averted the need for such steps. It provided $35.2 billion for Army and $4.0 billion for Marine Corps operation and maintenance accounts. These amounts are in addition to $27.4 billion for the Army and $4.8 billion for the Marine Corps in the regular FY2008 Defense Appropriations Act (P.L. 110-116). The supplemental funding, added to regular appropriations, provided enough money to sustain Army operations until the end of June or early July, 2008, and Marine Corps operations until the end of August at planned rates of obligation.\nWhile Congress\u2019s agreement to provide funds resolves the debate for the present, it did not settle the underlying controversy. A recurring issue for Congress has been how much flexibility the Defense Department has to delay, if not to avoid entirely, shutting down operations when Congress does not provide full-year defense appropriations. In the absence of supplemental appropriations, the Defense Department relied on funds in the regular FY2008 Defense Appropriations Act to finance both day-to-day peacetime activities and war-related operations abroad. CRS calculated that these funds would be exhausted by February for the Army and by early April for the Marine Corps, which is about what the Defense Department projected. DOD\u2019s proposed transfer of $4.1 billion to the Army would have extend its operations for another two to three weeks.\nWithout supplemental appropriations, the Defense Department could have extended operations for about another month by transferring limited additional amounts to the Army and Marine Corps and by slowing down spending through measures such as those the Army began to implement in April 2007. Such measures would reduce remaining financial flexibility and might disrupt day-to-day operations. The Defense Department might have been able to sustain operations longer by invoking the Feed and Forage Act or by using novel, unprecedented measures, such as assigning the Navy and Air Force to pay costs of Army support operations abroad. Such measures might weaken congressional war powers and erode congressional controls on the use of funds. This report will not be updated.",
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    },
    {
      "source": "University of North Texas Libraries Government Documents Department",
      "sourceLink": "https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc815819/",
      "id": "RL34275_2007Dec19",
      "date": "2007-12-19",
      "retrieved": "2016-03-19T13:57:26",
      "title": "How Long Can the Defense Department Finance FY2008 Operations in Advance of Supplemental Appropriations?",
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      "type": "CRS Report",
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    {
      "source": "University of North Texas Libraries Government Documents Department",
      "sourceLink": "https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc820834/",
      "id": "RL34275_2007Dec10",
      "date": "2007-12-10",
      "retrieved": "2016-03-19T13:57:26",
      "title": "How Long Can the Defense Department Finance FY2008 Operations in Advance of Supplemental Appropriations?",
      "summary": "This report analyzes war funding for the Defense Department and tracks funding for USAID and VA Medical funding.",
      "type": "CRS Report",
      "typeId": "REPORT",
      "active": false,
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      "topics": [
        {
          "source": "LIV",
          "id": "Defense budgets",
          "name": "Defense budgets"
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        {
          "source": "LIV",
          "id": "Defense economics",
          "name": "Defense economics"
        },
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          "source": "LIV",
          "id": "Defense policy",
          "name": "Defense policy"
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      "sourceLink": "https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc813594/",
      "id": "RL34275_2007Dec06",
      "date": "2007-12-06",
      "retrieved": "2016-03-19T13:57:26",
      "title": "How Long Can the Defense Department Finance FY2008 Operations in Advance of Supplemental Appropriations?",
      "summary": null,
      "type": "CRS Report",
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  "topics": [
    "Appropriations",
    "Foreign Affairs"
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}