
From the U.S. Code Online via GPO Access
[wais.access.gpo.gov]
[Laws in effect as of January 2, 2001]
[Document not affected by Public Laws enacted between
  January 2, 2001 and January 28, 2002]
[CITE: 10USC127a]

 
                         TITLE 10--ARMED FORCES
 
                    Subtitle A--General Military Law
 
            PART I--ORGANIZATION AND GENERAL MILITARY POWERS
 
                 CHAPTER 3--GENERAL POWERS AND FUNCTIONS
 
Sec. 127a. Operations for which funds are not provided in 
        advance: funding mechanisms
        
    (a) In General.--(1) The Secretary of Defense shall use the 
procedures prescribed by this section with respect to any operation 
specified in paragraph (2) that involves--
        (A) the deployment (other than for a training exercise) of 
    elements of the Armed Forces for a purpose other than a purpose for 
    which funds have been specifically provided in advance; or
        (B) the provision of humanitarian assistance, disaster relief, 
    or support for law enforcement (including immigration control) for 
    which funds have not been specifically provided in advance.

    (2) This section applies to--
        (A) any operation the incremental cost of which is expected to 
    exceed $50,000,000; and
        (B) any other operation the expected incremental cost of which, 
    when added to the expected incremental costs of other operations 
    that are currently ongoing, is expected to result in a cumulative 
    incremental cost of ongoing operations of the Department of Defense 
    in excess of $100,000,000.

Any operation the incremental cost of which is expected not to exceed 
$10,000,000 shall be disregarded for the purposes of subparagraph (B).
    (3) Whenever an operation to which this section applies is commenced 
or subsequently becomes covered by this section, the Secretary of 
Defense shall designate and identify that operation for the purposes of 
this section and shall promptly notify Congress of that designation (and 
of the identification of the operation).
    (4) This section does not provide authority for the President or the 
Secretary of Defense to carry out any operation, but establishes 
mechanisms for the Department of Defense by which funds are provided for 
operations that the armed forces are required to carry out under some 
other authority.
    (b) Waiver of Requirement To Reimburse Support Units.--(1) The 
Secretary of Defense shall direct that, when a unit of the Armed Forces 
participating in an operation described in subsection (a) receives 
services from an element of the Department of Defense that operates 
through the Defense Business Operations Fund (or a successor fund), such 
unit of the Armed Forces may not be required to reimburse that element 
for the incremental costs incurred by that element in providing such 
services, notwithstanding any other provision of law or any Government 
accounting practice.
    (2) The amounts which but for paragraph (1) would be required to be 
reimbursed to an element of the Department of Defense (or a fund) shall 
be recorded as an expense attributable to the operation and shall be 
accounted for separately.
    (c) Transfer Authority.--(1) Whenever there is an operation of the 
Department of Defense described in subsection (a), the Secretary of 
Defense may transfer amounts described in paragraph (3) to accounts from 
which incremental expenses for that operation were incurred in order to 
reimburse those accounts for those incremental expenses. Amounts so 
transferred shall be merged with and be available for the same purposes 
as the accounts to which transferred.
    (2) The total amount that the Secretary of Defense may transfer 
under the authority of this section in any fiscal year is $200,000,000.
    (3) Transfers under this subsection may only be made from amounts 
appropriated to the Department of Defense for any fiscal year that 
remain available for obligation, other than amounts within any operation 
and maintenance appropriation that are available for (A) an account 
(known as a budget activity 1 account) that is specified as being for 
operating forces, or (B) an account (known as a budget activity 2 
account) that is specified as being for mobilization.
    (4) The authority provided by this subsection is in addition to any 
other authority provided by law authorizing the transfer of amounts 
available to the Department of Defense. However, the Secretary may not 
use any such authority under another provision of law for a purpose 
described in paragraph (1) if there is authority available under this 
subsection for that purpose.
    (5) The authority provided by this subsection to transfer amounts 
may not be used to provide authority for an activity that has been 
denied authorization by Congress.
    (6) A transfer made from one account to another under the authority 
of this subsection shall be deemed to increase the amount authorized for 
the account to which the amount is transferred by an amount equal to the 
amount transferred.
    (d) Report Upon Designation of an Operation.--Within 45 days after 
the Secretary of Defense identifies an operation pursuant to subsection 
(a)(2), the Secretary of Defense shall submit to Congress a report that 
sets forth the following:
        (1) The manner by which the Secretary proposes to obtain funds 
    for the cost to the United States of the operation, including a 
    specific discussion of how the Secretary proposes to restore 
    balances in--
            (A) the Defense Business Operations Fund (or a successor 
        fund), or
            (B) the accounts from which the Secretary transfers funds 
        under the authority of subsection (c), to the levels that would 
        have been anticipated but for the provisions of subsection (c).

        (2) If the operation is described in subsection (a)(1)(B), a 
    justification why the budgetary resources of another department or 
    agency of the Federal Government, instead of resources of the 
    Department of Defense, are not being used for carrying out the 
    operation.
        (3) The objectives of the operation.
        (4) The estimated duration of the operation and of any 
    deployment of armed forces personnel in such operation.
        (5) The estimated incremental cost of the operation to the 
    United States.
        (6) The exit criteria for the operation and for the withdrawal 
    of the elements of the armed forces involved in the operation.

    (e) Limitations.--(1) The Secretary may not restore balances in the 
Defense Business Operations Fund through increases in rates charged by 
that fund in order to compensate for costs incurred and not reimbursed 
due to subsection (b).
    (2) The Secretary may not restore balances in the Defense Business 
Operations Fund or any other fund or account through the use of 
unobligated amounts in an operation and maintenance appropriation that 
are available within that appropriation for (A) an account (known as a 
budget activity 1 account) that is specified as being for operating 
forces, or (B) an account (known as a budget activity 2 account) that is 
specified as being for mobilization.
    (f) Submission of Requests for Supplemental Appropriations.--It is 
the sense of Congress that whenever there is an operation described in 
subsection (a), the President should, not later than 90 days after the 
date on which notification is provided pursuant to subsection (a)(3), 
submit to Congress a request for the enactment of supplemental 
appropriations for the then-current fiscal year in order to provide 
funds to replenish the Defense Business Operations Fund or any other 
fund or account of the Department of Defense from which funds for the 
incremental expenses of that operation were derived under this section 
and should, as necessary, submit subsequent requests for the enactment 
of such appropriations.
    (g) Incremental Costs.--For purposes of this section, incremental 
costs of the Department of Defense with respect to an operation are the 
costs of the Department that are directly attributable to the operation 
(and would not have been incurred but for the operation). Incremental 
costs do not include the cost of property or services acquired by the 
Department that are paid for by a source outside the Department or out 
of funds contributed by such a source.
    (h) Relationship to War Powers Resolution.--This section may not be 
construed as altering or superseding the War Powers Resolution. This 
section does not provide authority to conduct any military operation.
    (i) GAO Compliance Reviews.--The Comptroller General of the United 
States shall from time to time, and when requested by a committee of 
Congress, conduct a review of the defense funding structure under this 
section to determine whether the Department of Defense is complying with 
the requirements and limitations of this section.

(Added Pub. L. 103-160, div. A, title XI, Sec. 1108(a)(1), Nov. 30, 
1993, 107 Stat. 1751; amended Pub. L. 104-106, div. A, title X, 
Sec. 1003(a)(1), Feb. 10, 1996, 110 Stat. 415.)

                       References in Text

    The War Powers Resolution, referred to in subsec. (h), is Pub. L. 
93-148, Nov. 7, 1973, 87 Stat. 555, which is classified generally to 
chapter 33 (Sec. 1541 et seq.) of Title 50, War and National Defense. 
For complete classification of this Act to the Code, see Short Title 
note set out under section 1541 of Title 50 and Tables.


                               Amendments

    1996--Pub. L. 104-106 substituted ``Operations for which funds are 
not provided in advance: funding mechanisms'' for ``Expenses for 
contingency operations'' as section catchline and amended text 
generally. Prior to amendment, text consisted of subsecs. (a) to (h) 
relating to funding procedures for operations designated by the 
Secretary of Defense as National Contingency Operations.


                    Effective Date of 1996 Amendment

    Section 1003(b) of Pub. L. 104-106 provided that: ``The amendment to 
section 127a of title 10, United States Code, made by subsection (a) 
shall take effect on the date of the enactment of this Act [Feb. 10, 
1996] and shall apply to any operation of the Department of Defense that 
is in effect on or after that date, whether such operation is begun 
before, on, or after such date of enactment. In the case of an operation 
begun before such date, any reference in such section to the 
commencement of such operation shall be treated as referring to the 
effective date under the preceding sentence.''
