§127a Operations for Which Funds Are Not Provided in Advance: Funding Mechanisms

Summary

The Secretary of Defense must follow special funding rules when U.S. forces are sent out for reasons that were not already paid for, or when the military helps with humanitarian aid, disaster relief, or law enforcement and no money was set aside ahead of time. These rules apply when the extra cost of one operation is expected to be more than $50,000,000, or when adding the expected extra cost of a new operation to current ones will push the total over $100,000,000 (small operations of $10,000,000 or less are ignored). These rules do not give permission to start an operation. When a unit gets services from the Defense Business Operations Fund, that unit cannot be forced to pay back the extra costs. Those unpaid amounts must be recorded as expenses tied to the operation and kept separate. The Secretary may move money between Defense accounts to pay these extra costs, up to $200,000,000 in a fiscal year, but not from amounts that are locked for operating forces (budget activity 1) or for mobilization (budget activity 2). Transfers cannot be used to fund an activity Congress has rejected, and they increase the receiving account’s available amount. The President should ask Congress for emergency money to refill the funds within 90 days after the required notification. “Incremental costs” means only the extra costs caused directly by the operation and not paid for by someone else. These rules do not change the War Powers rules or give authority to conduct military action. The Comptroller General may review whether the Department is following these rules when Congress asks.