The amount, however, may not satisfy the United States. On July 28, the U.S. House of Representatives advanced a bill that would provide $273 million less for the transfer. The U.S. Senate is also leaning toward funding cuts, which has the U.S. looking to Japan to fill the gap.
However, Japan and the U.S. are at odds over how much Japan should pay for moving the Marines to Guam, according to Nikkei.
With the Futenma problem dragging on, there is little hope for completing the base-and-troop relocation on schedule in 2014. Washington sees this as a reason to ask Japan for money, but Tokyo is still clinging to the 2014 deadline, according to Nikkei.
Japan’s government wants to reduce its costs of keeping U.S. forces stationed in Japan, but the U.S. is not agreeing and is adamant that Japan keeps its share of the costs intact while providing more funding for the move to Guam, according to the publication.
Dubbed the “sympathy budget,” in keeping U.S. forces stationed in Japan, the U.S.-Japan agreement which commits Japan to the sympathy budget expires next March, which marks the end of Japan’s current fiscal year.
A new agreement on the sympathy budget must be approved by the Diet and with the opposition in control of the Upper House, furious debate over the issue is expected.
The Defense Ministry wants to include base spending for the next fiscal year in a special budget category that would pit programs against each other in an open debate over funding, a move that “could strain negotiations with the U.S.,” Nikkei reported.
According to agreements between Washington and Tokyo, Japan is expected to provide up to $6.09 billion for the Marine relocation to Guam.
According to the Guam Realignment Report dated Feb. 1, Japan has agreed to provide approximately $2.8 billion in direct cash contributions for facilities and infrastructure development and approximately $3.29 billion in equity and loans to Special Purpose Entities, or public/private investments, to finance construction of housing and facilities.
Each month, the Department of Defense must provide a report to the government of Japan showing the activity in the trust fund account holding the direct cash contributions provided by Japan.
The “Duncan Hunter National Defense Authorization Act for FY2009” established a trust fund account, the “Support for U.S. Relocation to Guam Account.” The trust fund account has separate treasury accounts reserved for cash contributions, earnings on investments and expenditures associated with the U.S. Marine Corps realignment to Guam.
The Office of the Undersecretary of Defense would transfer the funds received from the government of Japan and issue an obligation authority letter to the Department of the Navy. The assistant secretary of the Navy will then allocate the Japanese funds to NAVFAC using the assigned Trust Fund Receipt Account with a subhead specifically assigned to the government of Japan funds to facilitate tracking.
The Defense Finance and Accounting Service monitors disbursements and collections and allocates interest earned by the trust fund account.
The trust fund account can be used to fund work supporting the realignment of military installations and the relocation of military personnel to Guam including: administrative buildings; instructional buildings; and quality of life facilities and other supporting buildings, according to the realignment report.
