The Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2012 () is an
act passed by the
112th United States Congress
The 112th United States Congress was a meeting of the legislative branch of the United States federal government, from January 3, 2011, until January 3, 2013. It convened in Washington, D.C., on January 3, 2011, and ended on January 3, 2013, 17 ...
.
Provisions
The act provided $72.53 billion in non-emergency, discretionary budget authority for
FY 2012, a decrease of $1.2 billion from FY 2011 levels. Funding for
Department of Veterans Affairs
The United States Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) is a Cabinet-level executive branch department of the federal government charged with providing lifelong healthcare services to eligible military veterans at the 170 VA medical centers an ...
(VA) programs in FY 2012 included $69.5 billion in mandatory spending, equal to the president's request. The act provided $52.5 billion in advance appropriations for VA medical accounts in FY 2013, an increase of $1.9 billion (4 percent) over the advance appropriations for FY 2012. Including $69.5—billion in mandatory spending (which does not count against the subcommittee's allocation), the act provided $142 billion in budget authority for FY 2012 and contributed to an overall level of discretionary budget authority of $1.019 trillion for FY 2012 (a reduction of $30.3 billion from FY 2011).
Department of Defense and military construction
Department of Defense construction
The act appropriated $14 billion for
Department of Defense
The United States Department of Defense (DoD, USDOD, or DOD) is an executive department of the U.S. federal government charged with coordinating and supervising the six U.S. armed services: the Army, Navy, Marines, Air Force, Space Force, ...
(DoD) military construction, family housing and base realignment, a decrease of $4.6 billion (16 percent) from FY 2011. The funding level was $752 million (five percent below the president's request). According to the Appropriations Committee, the act provided funding for 397 military construction projects in the budget request.
Military family housing
The act provided $1.65 billion for family-housing maintenance and construction, a decrease of $128 million (seven percent) from FY 2011 and equal to the president's request. According to the committee, the act provided $373 million for the construction of family housing.
NATO Security Investment Program
The act provided $273 million for the
North Atlantic Treaty Organization
The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO ; , OTAN), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental transnational military alliance of 32 member states—30 European and 2 North American. Established in the aftermat ...
(NATO) Security Investment Program, an increase of $14 million (five percent) from FY 2011 and equal to the president's request. The program finances installations and facilities needed to support the roles of the two NATO Strategic Commands, including communications and information systems, radar, military headquarters, airfields, fuel pipelines and storage and harbors.
Base realignment and closure (BRAC)
The act provided $582 million for the re-stationing of overseas U.S. military personnel in the United States and base closures, a decrease of $1.9 billion (76 percent) from FY 2011 and equal to the president's budget request.
Department of Veterans Affairs
Veterans Benefits Administration
The act included a total (mandatory and discretionary) funding level of $69.6 billion for the
Veterans Benefits Administration
The Veterans Benefits Administration (VBA) is an agency of the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. It is responsible for administering the department's programs that provide financial and other forms of assistance to veterans, their dependents, ...
, an increase of $5.1 billion (eight percent) over FY 2011 and equal to the president's request. Most of the administration's funds are provided through mandatory spending for compensation, pensions and other benefits established in prior legislation.
Funding provided to the Veterans’ Benefits Administration includes $11 billion in readjustment benefits, which finances the education and training of veterans and service members initially entering
active duty
Active duty, in contrast to reserve duty, is a full-time occupation as part of a military force.
Indian
The Indian Armed Forces are considered to be one of the largest active service forces in the world, with almost 1.42 million Active Standin ...
on or after July 1, 1985. This funding was an increase of $615 million (six percent) from FY 2011.
Veterans Health Administration
The act provided $53 billion for the
Veterans Health Administration
The Veterans Health Administration (VHA) is the component of the United States Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) led by the Under Secretary of Veterans Affairs for Health that implements the healthcare program of the VA through a Nationali ...
, an increase of $1.9 billion (four percent) from FY 2011 and equal to the president's request. Funding for Veterans Health Administration medical services comes from advance appropriations in previous years. Advance appropriations from previous funding measures for the VA Administration for FY 2012 included $39.6 billion for medical services, $5.5 billion for medical-support compliance and $5.4 billion for medical facilities. The act also contained $52.5 billion in advance appropriations to finance these programs in FY 2013.
Information technology
The act provided $3 billion for VA information-technology needs at medical facilities, a decrease of $121 million from FY 2011 and $136 million from the president's request.
Operating expenses
The act provided $2.44 billion for VA operating expenses (a decrease of $24 million from the president's request), dividing operating expenses into two accounts. The administration's budget request proposed that funding for the administrative expenses associated with the Veterans Benefits Administration and department-wide offices be included in a single appropriation account. The committee recommendation included funding for these functions in two separate accounts: general operating expenses for the Veterans Benefits Administration and general administration.
VA construction
The act provided $590 million for major VA construction projects, a decrease of $561 million (48 percent) from FY 2011. It also provided $475 million for other VA construction projects, a decrease of $75 million (14 percent) from the president's budget request.
VA Inspector General
The act provided $109 million for the
Department of Veterans Affairs
The United States Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) is a Cabinet-level executive branch department of the federal government charged with providing lifelong healthcare services to eligible military veterans at the 170 VA medical centers an ...
Office of the Inspector General
In the United States, Office of Inspector General (OIG) is a generic term for the oversight division of a List of federal agencies in the United States, federal or state agency aimed at preventing inefficient or unlawful operations within their p ...
, the same amount as the previous year and identical to the president's request.
Advance appropriations
The act provided $52.5 billion in advance appropriations for the Veterans Health Administration for medical services, support and facilities.
Related agencies
American Battle Monuments Commission
The
American Battle Monuments Commission
The American Battle Monuments Commission (ABMC) is an Independent agencies of the United States government, independent agency of the United States government that administers, operates, and maintains permanent U.S. military cemeteries, memoria ...
, responsible for operating and supporting U.S. military monuments and cemeteries around the world, was funded at $77 million (a decrease of $7 million—eight percent—from FY 2011 and the same as the president's budget request.
Army cemetery expenses
The act provided $46 million for the operation of
Arlington National Cemetery
Arlington National Cemetery is the largest cemetery in the United States National Cemetery System, one of two maintained by the United States Army. More than 400,000 people are buried in its 639 acres (259 ha) in Arlington County, Virginia.
...
, $1 million more than the previous year.
Armed Forces Retirement Home
The act provided $68 million for the
Armed Forces Retirement Home
The Armed Forces Retirement Home refers to one of two Old Soldiers' retirement homes, one in Gulfport, Mississippi, the other in Washington, D.C., that house veterans and retired members of the United States Armed Forces.
Current status
In ...
Trust Fund, $3 million below the previous year's level.
Additional provisions
Use of funds
The act prohibited funds from being made available to acquire land, provide for site preparation or install utilities for family housing unless it was made available in appropriations for military construction.
Steel procurement
The act prohibited the procurement of
steel
Steel is an alloy of iron and carbon that demonstrates improved mechanical properties compared to the pure form of iron. Due to steel's high Young's modulus, elastic modulus, Yield (engineering), yield strength, Fracture, fracture strength a ...
, unless U.S. producers and manufacturers were able to compete.
Project labor agreements
The act prohibited the use of funds for enforcement of
Executive Order 13502, which encourages executive agencies to consider requiring the use of project labor agreements in connection with large-scale construction projects.
E-Verify
Included was a requirement that contractors comply with the
E-Verify
E-Verify is a United States Department of Homeland Security (DHS) website that allows businesses to determine the eligibility of their employees, both U.S. and foreign citizens, to work in the United States. The site was originally established i ...
requirements of
Executive Order 12989. E-Verify is an Internet-based system allowing businesses to determine the eligibility of their employees to work in the United States.
Guantanamo Bay detainees
The act prohibited funding for the construction or renovation of any facility in the continental United States for housing any individual detained at
Guantanamo Bay detention camp
The Guantanamo Bay detention camp, also known as GTMO ( ), GITMO ( ), or simply Guantanamo Bay, is a United States military prison within Naval Station Guantanamo Bay (NSGB), on the coast of Guantánamo Bay, Cuba. It was established in 2002 by p ...
,
Cuba
Cuba, officially the Republic of Cuba, is an island country, comprising the island of Cuba (largest island), Isla de la Juventud, and List of islands of Cuba, 4,195 islands, islets and cays surrounding the main island. It is located where the ...
.
Costs
According to the
Congressional Budget Office
The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) is a List of United States federal agencies, federal agency within the United States Congress, legislative branch of the United States government that provides budget and economic information to Congress.
I ...
, the act provided $72.535 billion in discretionary budget authority for programs funded through the military construction and veterans affairs appropriations bill for fiscal year 2012.
Public perception
The act attracted public attention in April 2013 in a case involving a
United Nations
The United Nations (UN) is the Earth, global intergovernmental organization established by the signing of the Charter of the United Nations, UN Charter on 26 June 1945 with the stated purpose of maintaining international peace and internationa ...
whistleblower
Whistleblowing (also whistle-blowing or whistle blowing) is the activity of a person, often an employee, revealing information about activity within a private or public organization that is deemed illegal, immoral, illicit, unsafe, unethical or ...
. James Wasserstrom was awarded $65,000 of his $3.2 million suit after a long legal battle with the UN in which he asserted that he was not protected from retaliation.
The act is notable for ending the ban on
slaughtering horses for meat
and its "Weldon Amendment": "a physician or other health care professional, a hospital, a provider-sponsored organization, a health maintenance organization, a health insurance plan, or any other kind of health care facility” may refuse abortions, counseling, or referrals, even in cases of rape, incest, or medical emergency".
It has been questioned by the
United States Postal Service
The United States Postal Service (USPS), also known as the Post Office, U.S. Mail, or simply the Postal Service, is an independent agencies of the United States government, independent agency of the executive branch of the federal governmen ...
, since its wording affects the service's decision whether or not to eliminate Saturday mail delivery. The act's continued appropriations assumed six-day delivery.
References
External links
Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2012as amended
PDFdetails
in the GPObr>Statute Compilations collection
Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2012
as enacted
details
in the US Statutes at Large
H.R. 2055: Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2012
{{USGovernment
Acts of the 112th United States Congress
United States federal appropriations legislation