It is summer in Washington and the perennial problem of authorizing and funding our Army is in full flower.As I have reported, seemingly endlessly, defense authorization and appropriation legislation is moving forward in both houses of Congress at its usual slow pace.This year the process is shadowed again by the specter of defense sequestration that would cut enormous amounts of money out of the DoD budget and seems destined not to be resolved until after the next fiscal cliff occurs in October or November.The House has approved its version of the Fiscal Year 2014 Defense Authorization Bill.Consistent with the House budget, the bill authorizes $552.1 billion in spending for national defense and an additional $85.8 billion for Overseas Contingency Operations.In meetings with Armed Services Committee staff, AUSA’s leadership outlined our position on several items we opposed in the president’s budget request.One was the proposed 1 percent pay raise for military personnel.AUSA President Gen. Gordon R. Sullivan, USA, Ret., strongly believes that the 1 percent pay raise was wrong.It would have been the smallest since 1958 and the first time since 1999 that the increase had not at least matched average private sector wage growth.The committee agreed and authorized a 1.8 percent raise that mirrors private sector wage growth.Another issue AUSA has fought against is the administration’s push to increase some TRICARE fees and establish new ones.The committee concurred with AUSA on that one also and did not authorize new fees or fee increases. In fact, a press release from the committee outlined our position perfectly.It read: "The committee has already put TRICARE on a sustainable path through reforms in several recent NDAAs. Those reforms connect TRICARE fee increases to retiree cost of living increases."DoD’s record of incorrectly calculating TRICARE costs and their repeated requests to transfer billions in unused funds out of the program to cover other underfunded defense priorities raises questions about repeated claims by the Department of Defense that the Defense Health Program is unsustainable."The bill also includes a provision that will allow retirees to keep TRICARE Prime access after Oct. 1 when DoD reduces the availability of Prime to retired beneficiaries.The committee also addressed sexual assault in the military.Among the provisions adopted are those that would strip commanders of their authority to dismiss a finding by a court martial; prohibit them from reducing guilty findings to guilty of a lesser offense; establish minimum sentencing guidelines; and, one that would allow victims of sexual assault to apply for a permanent change of station or unit transfer.At this writing the Senate has marked up their version of the bill, but it is not yet scheduled for a full Senate vote.So now we know about the policy part of defense legislation, but what about the funding part?Well, the House Defense Appropriations Subcommittee completed its markup of the FY 2014 defense spending bill and the full Appropriations Committee is scheduled to start its work.The draft bill provides $512.5 billion in non-war funding, a decrease of $5.1 billion below the Fiscal Year 2013 enacted level and $3.4 billion below the president’s request.This is approximately $28.1 billion above the current level caused by automatic sequestration spending cuts.Among the provisions of the bill are:Full funding for a 1.8 percent pay raise for the military, instead of one percent as requested by the president.Rejection of administration proposals to increase/create TRICARE fees and adding $519 million for defense health care accounts. It also provides $246 million for cancer research, $225 million for medical facility upgrades, $125 million for traumatic brain injury and psychological health research, and $20 million for suicide prevention outreach programs.Inclusion of $175 billion for operations and maintenance – $124 million below the request and $1.5 billion above the Fiscal Year 2013 enacted level. This contains essential funding for key readiness programs to prepare troops for combat and peacetime missions, flight time and battle training, equipment and facility maintenance, and base operations.Inclusion of $922 million to restore reductions in the administration’s request for facility sustainment and modernization, $536 million for a fuel shortfall (estimated by GAO), and full funding for the Tuition Assistance Program at $570 million.Additionally, the bill fully funds Sexual Assault Prevention and Response programs at $157 million, and it adds $25 million to expand sexual assault victim assistance programs.Provision of $66.4 billion – $3.5 billion below the Fiscal Year 2013 enacted level and $1.1 billion below the president’s request – for research, development, testing, and evaluation of new defense technologies.Prohibition of funding for transfers of Guantanamo detainees to the U.S. or its territories, prohibits funding to modify any facility in the U.S. to house detainees, and places conditions on the release of detainees to other countries.The bill could reach the House floor by mid to late June.In the Senate there is no firm date for the Senate Defense Appropriations Committee mark up to start. Both the House and Senate leadership hope to finish the defense appropriations process before the end of the fiscal year on Sept. 30.However, Congress will be gone from the beginning of August until after Labor Day, so the number of days available to complete these crucial pieces of legislation grows smaller and smaller.Once each house has passed its version of the bill, the legislation must go to conference where differences are ironed out.So there is a long road ahead, but AUSA will be monitoring the process closely and will make our voice heard if the issues our constituents care about are not properly addressed. In the meantime, we thank you for your dedication to our Army, its soldiers and families and for your membership in the Association.