Updated November 16, 2018
Defense Primer: Defense Appropriations Process
as national defense, agriculture, and transportation—that set
spending priorities.
The Constitution gives Congress the power of the purse in
Article I, Section 9, which provides that “No money shall
Section 302(a) of the Congressional Budget Act requires
be drawn from the Treasury, but in Consequence of
that the total new budget authority and outlays in the budget
Appropriations made by Law.” To fulfill this duty,
resolution be allocated among all committees with spending
Congress annually considers appropriations measures,
jurisdiction. This establishes ceilings on spending for
which provide funding for numerous activities—such as
legislation reported from each committee that can be
national defense, education, and homeland security—
enforced procedurally through points of order during
consistent with policies and priorities established through
consideration of the legislation. All discretionary spending
legislation such as the National Defense Authorization Act.
is allocated to the House and Senate Appropriations
Committees, which are required to subdivide this allocation
The congressional appropriations process includes various
among their 12 subcommittees under Section 302(b) of the
rules and practices that Congress has adopted to distinguish
Congressional Budget Act. These suballocations are also
appropriations measures and facilitate their consideration.
enforceable during consideration of legislation, preventing
These measures generally provide funding authority in
response to the President’s budget request
the consideration of amendments that would increase
for a fiscal year
funding above these limits.
(October 1 - September 30).
Committees of Jurisdiction
Committee Processes
Upon receipt of the President’s budget request, the
The House and Senate Committees on Appropriations
appropriations subcommittees begin a series of hearings in
exercise jurisdiction over the annual appropriations
which the senior civilian and military leadership of the
measures. Each committee has 12 subcommittees, with
Department of Defense, the military services, and certain
each subcommittee having responsibility for developing
defense agencies are invited to testify before the
one regular annual appropriations bill to provide funding
subcommittees on the budget request.
for departments and activities within its jurisdiction. The
jurisdictions of the House and Senate Appropriations
At the same time, Members of Congress may submit
subcommittees are generally parallel. The subcommittees
requests and make recommendations concerning proposed
dealing with defense matters are:
programmatic levels and language to be included in
appropriations bills and committee reports.
Subcommittees on Defense, with jurisdiction over
After conducting these hearings, the House and Senate
appropriations for the Departments of Army, Navy
Appropriations Committees make their suballocations, and
(including Marine Corps), Air Force, Office of Secretary
the subcommittees begin to draft, mark up, and report the
of Defense, Defense Agencies, the Central Intelligence
appropriations bills to their respective full committees. The
Agency, and the Intelligence Community Staff.
full committees also hold a markup, and may adopt
Subcommittees on Military Construction, Veterans
amendments to a subcommittee’s recommendations before
Affairs and Related Agencies, with jurisdiction over
reporting the bills and making them available for floor
appropriations for Military Construction, Chemical
consideration. In addition to drafting the bills, the
Demilitarization Construction, Military Family Housing
subcommittees also prepare reports, which include
Construction and Operation and Maintenance, the Base
information required by House and Senate rules, explain
Realignment and Closure Account, NATO Security
committee actions and provide guidance, and directives to
Investment Program, as well as the Department of
agencies. Committee reports may not be amended directly
Veterans Affairs, and other related agencies.
during floor proceedings.
Subcommittee on Energy and Water Development, with
House and Senate Consideration
jurisdiction over the Army Corps of Engineers, and all
Traditionally, the House initiates consideration of regular
defense-related activities of the Department of Energy,
appropriations measures, although the Senate
including the National Nuclear Security Administration.
Appropriations Committee may draft or report
The Congressional Budget Resolution
appropriations legislation in anticipation of House action.
The House Appropriations Committee generally begins
The Congressional Budget Act of 1974 provides for the
reporting the appropriations bills to the House in May or
annual consideration of a concurrent resolution on the
June. Once reported from committee, an appropriations bill
budget, which allows Congress to establish overall
may be scheduled for floor consideration. In the House,
budgetary and fiscal policy to be implemented through
current practice is to consider the bill under the terms of a
enactment of subsequent legislation. The budget resolution,
special rule (reported by the House Rules Committee) that
in part, establishes a limit on total new budget authority and
structures the conditions of debate and specifies possible
outlay levels divided among 20 functional categories—such
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Defense Primer: Defense Appropriations Process
floor amendments to the bill. After being debated, amended
defense and non-defense. If spending in excess of either of
and passed by the House, the measure is sent to the Senate.
these statutory limits is enacted, the President is required to
issue a sequester order making across-the-board cuts in
The Senate Appropriations Committee typically begins
non-exempt programs and activities within the breached
reporting the bills in June. The recent practice generally has
category. The statute also provides, however, for the caps to
been for the Senate to consider the text of a bill as reported
be adjusted for any appropriations designated for “Overseas
by its Appropriations Committee in the form of a complete
Contingency Operations/Global War on Terrorism,”
substitute amendment for the House-passed bill. In the
effectively making such spending exempt from the caps.
Senate, floor debate and amendment consideration is
typically structured pursuant to multiple unanimous consent
Continuing Resolutions
agreements. However, one or more cloture processes (by
If this process is not completed prior to the start of the fiscal
which three-fifths of the Senate, typically 60 Senators,
year (October 1), Congress may need to enact one or more
votes to limit consideration) may be necessary for the
measures to provide temporary funding authority pending
Senate to reach a final vote on certain amendments, and on
the final disposition of the regular appropriations bills,
the bill itself.
either separately or as part of an omnibus measure. Because
Conference
budget authority is typically provided for a single fiscal
year, temporary funding measures are necessary if action on
The Constitution requires that the House and Senate
a regular appropriations measure has not been completed
approve the same measure in precisely the same form
prior to the beginning of a fiscal year in order to prevent a
before it may be presented to the President for his signature
funding gap that could require an agency to cease non-
or veto. Consequently, once the House and Senate have
excepted activities. Traditionally, temporary funding has
both completed initial consideration of an appropriations
been provided in the form of a joint resolution to allow
measure, the Appropriations Committees in each chamber
agencies or programs to continue to obligate funds at a
will endeavor to negotiate a resolution of the differences
particular rate (such as the rate of operations for the
between their respective versions. The House and Senate
previous fiscal year), for a specific period of time, which
can agree to convene a conference committee to conduct
may range from a single day to an entire fiscal year. These
this negotiation and propose a package settlement of all
measures are known as continuing resolutions (or CRs).
their disagreements. Alternatively, agreement may be
reached through an exchange of amendments between the
Supplemental Appropriations
houses.
In addition to the amounts provided in a regular
The practice has generally been to use a conference
appropriations measure, the President may request, and
committee to resolve differences between the houses on the
Congress may enact, additional funding for selected
annual defense appropriations bill. Conferees are typically
activities, in the form of one or more supplemental
drawn from the defense subcommittees of the House and
appropriations measures (or supplementals). These have
Senate Appropriations Committees. Conferees are generally
been used to provide funding for unforeseen needs, such as
required by House and Senate rules to negotiate within the
response to the terror attacks of September 11, 2001, and
scope of the differences between the versions of the bill,
recovery costs due to Hurricane Sandy in 2013. They have
and report the result of their negotiation in the form of a
also been used as vehicles to provide funding for Overseas
conference report. Completion of the conference report is
Contingency Operations. Like regular appropriations bills,
not on a specified timeline, so that negotiations are
supplementals provide specific amounts of funding for
concluded only when a majority of the conferees from each
individual accounts rather than funding based on a rate of
chamber sign the conference report. The conference
operations (like a CR).
committee will typically begin their work as soon as
possible following passage in both chambers.
CRS Products
Once reported by the conference committee, a conference
CRS Report R42388, The Congressional Appropriations Process:
report is subject to floor debate during consideration, but is
An Introduction, coordinated by James V. Saturno
not amendable. (In the Senate, reaching a vote on the
CRS Report IG10005, From Bill to Law: Stages of the Legislative
conference report may require three-fifths of the Senate to
Process, by Valerie Heitshusen and Jennifer E. Manning
invoke cloture.) If the House and Senate each agree to the
conference report, the measure is enrolled for presentation
to the President.
Note: For questions on the appropriations process, contact
James V. Saturno; for questions on defense appropriations,
While Congress has traditionally considered and approved
contact Brendan W. McGarry. Acknowledgment: This
each regular appropriations bill separately, delays in their
primer was originally co-authored by Lynn M. Williams,
consideration may lead to a combination of several
former CRS Specialist in Defense Readiness and
appropriations bills into a single legislative vehicle prior to
Infrastructure.
enactment, referred to as omnibus appropriations measures.
Statutory Spending Limit
Under the provisions of the Budget Control Act of 2011,
James V. Saturno, Specialist on Congress and the
there is a limit on the amount of discretionary spending that
Legislative Process
can be provided in appropriations measures (through
Brendan W. McGarry, Analyst in US Defense Budget
FY2021). This amount is divided into separate limits for
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Defense Primer: Defense Appropriations Process
Disclaimer
This document was prepared by the Congressional Research Service (CRS). CRS serves as nonpartisan shared staff to
congressional committees and Members of Congress. It operates solely at the behest of and under the direction of Congress.
Information in a CRS Report should not be relied upon for purposes other than public understanding of information that has
been provided by CRS to Members of Congress in connection with CRS’s institutional role. CRS Reports, as a work of the
United States Government, are not subject to copyright protection in the United States. Any CRS Report may be
reproduced and distributed in its entirety without permission from CRS. However, as a CRS Report may include
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wish to copy or otherwise use copyrighted material.
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