Dear Mr. Speaker:
I ask the Congress to consider the enclosed Fiscal Year (FY) 2014 Budget amendments for the Departments of Agriculture, Defense, Health and Human Services, Housing and Urban Development, the Interior, Justice, State, and Transportation, as well as Other International Programs, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, and the Federal Trade Commission. These amendments do not affect the proposed FY 2014 Budget totals. These amendments are necessary to reflect correctly policies assumed in the FY 2014 Budget.
Also included is a new Department of Defense (DOD) General Provision that would authorize the Secretary of the Navy to receive and retain payment in-kind for the settlement of the longstanding A-12 aircraft contract litigation. This litigation has been ongoing for over two decades.
The final decision about the pace of the drawdown in Afghanistan was not made at the time the FY 2014 Budget request was developed. As a result, the Budget included a placeholder for DOD FY 2014 Overseas Contingency Operations (OCO) funding, equivalent to the amount provided in the President’s FY 2013 Budget. The Administration noted in the FY 2014 Budget that after determining the required force levels in Afghanistan, a Budget amendment updating the OCO request would be submitted to the Congress. The enclosed DOD amendments also include the necessary updates to the OCO request, which funds military operations in Afghanistan and other activities that primarily support Operation Enduring Freedom.
In addition, this transmittal contains FY 2014 amendments for the Legislative Branch. As a matter of comity and tradition, these appropriations requests for the Legislative Branch are transmitted without change.
The details of these amendments are set forth in the enclosed letter from the Director of the Office of Management and Budget.
I again urge the Congress to consider my FY 2014 Budget, which takes a balanced approach to further deficit reduction and replaces sequestration.
Sincerely,
BARACK OBAMA