Don Nickles: “I rise in support of S. 1382, the Department of Defense appropriations bill for fiscal year 2004, as reported by the…”

“I rise in support of S. 1382, the Department of Defense appropriations bill for fiscal year 2004, as reported by the Senate Committee on Appropriations. I commend the distinguished chairman and the ranking member for bringing the Senate a carefully crafted spending bill within the Subcommittee's 302(b) allocation and consistent with the discretionary spending cap for 2004. The pending bill provides $369.2 billion in budget authority and $389.9 billion in outlays in fiscal year 2004 for the Department of Defense. Of these totals, $528 million is for mandatory programs. The bill provides $368.637 billion in discretionary budget authority, $25 billion less than the subcommittee's 302(b) allocation. The bill provides $389.371 billion in discretionary outlays, $16 million below the 302(b) allocation. Pursuant to an agreement with the administration, the bill provides $3.062 billion less budget authority than was in the President's Defense budget request. These funds were shifted to other nondefense spending bills.”