February 12, 2015
The President’s FY2016 Military Construction Budget Request
President Barack Obama submitted his FY2016 budget
Authorization legislation deals with more than just
request to Congress in early February, 2015. As part of that
construction projects. A typical Military Construction
submission, the President has requested $8.4 billion in
Authorization Act will also authorize DOD to acquire real
funding for domestic and overseas military construction.
property, establish policy regarding the relocation of forces,
permit the conveyance of title for real property from the
Military Construction Defined
federal government and between federal agencies, and deal
with related matters.
Military construction is the creation, by the Department of
Defense (on behalf of the defense agencies and Special
Appropriations
Operations Command) or the Departments of the Army,
Navy, or Air Force, of real property (that which cannot be
Drafting legislation appropriating funds to support military
moved). 10 U.S.C. §2802 defines military construction
construction is the responsibility of the Committees on
projects as “surveys and site preparation; acquisition,
Appropriations of the two chambers. Once a stand-alone
conversion, rehabilitation, and installation of facilities;
bill, the appropriation of military construction funds was
acquisition and installation of equipment and appurtenances
joined with funding for veterans affairs and several smaller
integral to the project; acquisition and installation of
agencies (the American Battle Monuments Commission,
supporting facilities (including utilities) and appurtenances
the U.S. Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims, Armed
incident to the project; and planning, supervision,
Forces Retirement Homes, and Arlington National
administration, and overhead incident to the project.”
Cemetery) at the beginning of the 108th Congress. The
Subcommittees on Military Construction, Veterans Affairs,
The military construction appropriation funds the
and Related Agencies have been entrusted with the drafting
construction and operation of military family housing. It
of the appropriations bill since the 109th Congress.
also supports the Military Housing Privatization Initiative,
includes the U.S. contribution to the NATO Security
Historical Trends in Military
Infrastructure Program, and provides assistance to some
Construction Appropriations
DOD homeowners forced to sell private residences in
depressed markets. Furthermore, since 1988, the military
Since 1948, the median (half above and half below) annual
construction appropriation has constituted the sole funding
combined military construction and family housing
source for the Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC)
appropriation is calculated at $11.9 billion, as measured in
process.
constant FY2015 dollars. During February 2015, President
Barack Obama forwarded to Congress a request for $8.4
Authorization of Appropriations and
million in military construction appropriations for FY2016.
Appropriations
As illustrated in Figure 1, trends in military construction
Funding for military construction projects must be both
funding appear to fall within several distinct time periods.
authorized and appropriated for by Congress.
Post-World War II Construction
Authorization of Appropriations
The end of World War II in 1945 left the Department of
For the 114th Congress, the authorization of military
War and the Department of the Navy (predecessors of
construction appropriations lies within the jurisdictions of
DOD) with massive, relatively new, infrastructure
the Committees on Armed Services in the House of
inventories supporting a rapidly demobilizing military
Representatives and the Senate. Within the House
force. A total of more than 16 million U.S. men and women
committee, the responsibility for drafting authorizing
served in uniform during the war, and more than 12 million
legislation and general oversight of military construction
were on active duty in September of 1945. By mid-1947, at
activities lies with the Subcommittee on Readiness. Within
the time that DOD was created out of the two military
the Senate committee, those responsibilities have been
departments, that number had shrunk to less than 2 million.
assigned to the Subcommittee on Readiness and
Construction requirements, therefore, were minimal
Management Support. Those subcommittees review the
between the end of World War II and the outbreak of
annual request for military construction appropriations and
hostilities on the Korean Peninsula in 1950.
draft a military construction authorization bill that is
customarily incorporated into the annual National Defense
The Cold War
Authorization Act (NDAA) as one of its divisions since the
mid-1980s.
The Cold War’s onset required a significant reorientation of
U.S. national strategy. Long-range Soviet bomber fleets and
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The President’s FY2016 Military Construction Budget Request
a large ground army concentrated in central Europe posed
Construction continued apace as U.S. combat troops
significant threats. During the 1950s and early 1960s, the
became engaged in Vietnam during the late 1960s. The
U.S. constructed early warning radar facilities, missile
need for new construction slowed somewhat as the United
defense sites, and strategic bomber bases along its northern
States disengaged from Vietnam in the mid-1970s, but
tier and established large garrisons near the border between
picked up again during the military buildup of the Reagan
West and East Germany.
Administration in the 1980s.

Figure 1. Military Construction Appropriations, Fiscal Year 1948 through Fiscal Year 2019
Constant FY2015 Dol ars in Millions
40,000
35,000
s
n 30,000
illio
M
25,000
lars in
20,000
2015 Dol 15,000
t FY
10,000
nstan
Co
5,000
0
Korean War
Cold War
Post-Cold War
Fiscal Year
Military Construction
Family Housing

Source: National Defense Budget Estimates for FY2015 (the Green Book); DOD Budget Request for FY2016
Notes: Amounts for FY1948 through FY2015 reflect actual appropriations, FY2016 is the President’s request, and FY2017 through FY2019
indicate planned appropriations requests as laid out in the DOD Future Years Defense Plan (FYDP).

Post-Cold War and BRAC
BRAC implementation is one reason that military
construction appropriations between Fiscal Year (FY)1989
Tensions of the Cold War eased during the last years of the
and FY2011, the last year of BRAC implementation, may
1980s, presaging the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991.
not have dropped to levels expected at the end of the Cold
By then, budgetary pressures, the lack of a clearly defined
War. The 2005 BRAC round, implemented between
adversary, and underutilized infrastructure offered an
FY2006 and FY2011, required a large commitment of
opportunity to significantly reduce DOD’s “footprint.” This
funding largely due to three reasons unique to that round:
led the Secretary of Defense in 1988 to negotiate an
(1) its primary goal was not cost savings, but rather support
agreement with Congress that created a special Base
for the “transformation” of U.S. military forces a light
Realignment and Closure (BRAC) process. Under BRAC,
“expeditionary” post-Cold War organization; (2) operations
DOD and an independent commission have drawn up lists
in Iraq and Afghanistan prompted an increase in ground
of recommendations in 1988, 1991, 1993, 1995, and 2005
forces (“Grow the Force”) requiring the construction of new
that closed or adjusted the missions and garrisons of
troop facilities; and (3) the redeployment of overseas units
installations around the nation. The recommendations for
to U.S. garrisons, all funded through the BRAC account.
each round have been implemented over the course of the
six subsequent years, and the sole source of funding for that
Daniel H. Else, delse@crs.loc.gov, 7-4996
implementation has been the military construction

appropriation. Authority to conduct BRAC expired in 2006.
IF10132
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