Updated December 23, 2019
Defense Primer: Defense Appropriations Process
The Constitution gives Congress the power of the purse in
as national defense, agriculture, and transportation—that set
Article I, Section 9, which provides that “No money shall
spending priorities.
be drawn from the Treasury, but in Consequence of
Appropriations made by Law.” To fulfill this duty,
Section 302(a) of the Congressional Budget Act requires
Congress annually considers appropriations measures,
that the total new budget authority and outlays in the budget
which provide funding for numerous activities—such as
resolution be allocated among all committees with spending
national defense, education, and homeland security—
jurisdiction. This establishes ceilings on spending for
consistent with policies and priorities established through
legislation reported from each committee that can be
legislation such as the National Defense Authorization Act.
enforced procedurally through points of order during
consideration of the legislation. All discretionary spending
The congressional appropriations process includes various
is allocated to the House and Senate Appropriations
rules and practices that Congress has adopted to distinguish
Committees, which are required to subdivide this allocation
appropriations measures and facilitate their consideration.
among their 12 subcommittees under Section 302(b) of the
These measures generally provide funding authority in
Congressional Budget Act. These suballocations are also
response to the President’s budget request for a fiscal year
enforceable during consideration of legislation, preventing
(October 1 through September 30).
the consideration of amendments that would increase
funding above these limits. In the absence of agreement on
Committees of Jurisdiction
a budget resolution, the House and Senate may use
The House and Senate Committees on Appropriations
alternative means to establish enforceable limits.
exercise jurisdiction over the annual appropriations
measures. Each committee has 12 subcommittees, with
Committee Processes
each subcommittee having responsibility for developing
Upon receipt of the President’s budget request, the
one regular annual appropriations bill to provide funding
appropriations subcommittees begin a series of hearings in
for departments and activities within its jurisdiction. The
which the senior civilian and military leadership of the
jurisdictions of the House and Senate Appropriations
Department of Defense, the military services, and certain
subcommittees are generally parallel. The main
defense agencies are invited to testify before the
subcommittees dealing with defense matters are:
subcommittees on the budget request.
Subcommittees on Defense, with jurisdiction over
At the same time, Members of Congress may submit
appropriations for the Departments of Army, Navy
requests and make recommendations concerning proposed
(including Marine Corps), Air Force, Office of Secretary
programmatic levels and language to be included in
of Defense, Defense Agencies, the Central Intelligence
appropriations bills and committee reports.
Agency, and the Intelligence Community Staff.
After conducting these hearings, the House and Senate
Subcommittees on Military Construction, Veterans
Appropriations Committees make their suballocations, and
Affairs and Related Agencies, with jurisdiction over
the subcommittees begin to draft, mark up, and report the
appropriations for Military Construction, Chemical
appropriations bills to their respective full committees. The
Demilitarization Construction, Military Family Housing
full committees also hold a markup and may adopt
Construction and Operation and Maintenance, the Base
amendments to a subcommittee’s recommendations before
Realignment and Closure Account, NATO Security
reporting the bills and making them available for floor
Investment Program, as well as the Department of
consideration. In addition to drafting the bills, the
Veterans Affairs, and other related agencies.
subcommittees also prepare reports, which include
information required by House and Senate rules, explain
Subcommittee on Energy and Water Development, with
committee actions, and provide guidance and directives to
jurisdiction over the Army Corps of Engineers, and all
agencies. Committee reports may not be amended directly
defense-related activities of the Department of Energy,
during floor proceedings.
including the National Nuclear Security Administration.
House and Senate Consideration
The Congressional Budget Resolution
Traditionally, the House initiates consideration of regular
The Congressional Budget Act of 1974 provides for the
appropriations measures, although the Senate
annual consideration of a concurrent resolution on the
Appropriations Committee may draft or report
budget, which allows Congress to establish overall
appropriations legislation in anticipation of House action.
budgetary and fiscal policy to be implemented through
The House Appropriations Committee generally begins
enactment of subsequent legislation. The budget resolution,
reporting the appropriations bills to the House in May or
in part, establishes a limit on total new budget authority and
June. Once reported from committee, an appropriations bill
outlay levels divided among 20 functional categories—such
may be scheduled for floor consideration. In the House,
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Defense Primer: Defense Appropriations Process
current practice is to consider the bill under the terms of a
Statutory Spending Limit
special rule (reported by the House Rules Committee) that
Under the provisions of the Budget Control Act of 2011,
structures the conditions of debate and specifies possible
there is a limit on the amount of discretionary spending that
floor amendments to the bill. After being debated, amended
can be provided in appropriations measures (through
and passed by the House, the measure is sent to the Senate.
FY2021). This amount is divided into separate limits for
The Senate Appropriations Committee typically begins
defense and non-defense. If spending in excess of either of
reporting the bills in June. The recent practice has generally
these statutory limits is enacted, the President is required to
been for the Senate to consider the text of a bill as reported
issue a sequester order making across-the-board cuts in
by its Appropriations Committee in the form of a complete
non-exempt programs and activities within the breached
substitute amendment for the House-passed bill. In the
category. The statute also provides, however, for the caps to
Senate, floor debate and amendment consideration is
be adjusted for any appropriations designated for “Overseas
typically structured pursuant to multiple unanimous consent
Contingency Operations/Global War on Terrorism,”
agreements. However, one or more cloture processes (by
effectively making such spending exempt from the caps.
which three-fifths of the Senate, typically 60 Senators,
Continuing Resolutions
votes to limit consideration) may be necessary for the
Senate to reach a final vote on certain amendments and on
If this process is not completed prior to the start of the fiscal
the bill itself.
year (October 1), Congress may need to enact one or more
Conference
measures to provide temporary funding authority pending
the final disposition of the regular appropriations bills,
The Constitution requires that the House and Senate
either separately or as part of an omnibus measure. Because
approve the same measure in precisely the same form
budget authority is typically provided for a single fiscal
before it may be presented to the President for his signature
year, temporary funding measures are necessary if action on
or veto. Consequently, once the House and Senate have
a regular appropriations measure has not been completed
both completed initial consideration of an appropriations
prior to the beginning of a fiscal year in order to prevent a
measure, the Appropriations Committees in each chamber
funding gap that could require an agency to cease non-
will endeavor to negotiate a resolution of the differences
excepted activities. Traditionally, temporary funding has
between their respective versions. The House and Senate
been provided in the form of a joint resolution to allow
can agree to convene a conference committee to conduct
agencies or programs to continue to obligate funds at a
this negotiation and propose a package settlement of all
particular rate (such as the rate of operations for the
their disagreements. Alternatively, agreement may be
previous fiscal year), for a specific period of time, which
reached through an exchange of amendments between the
may range from a single day to an entire fiscal year. These
houses.
measures are known as continuing resolutions (or CRs).
The practice has generally been to use a conference
Supplemental Appropriations
committee to resolve differences between the houses on the
In addition to the amounts provided in a regular
annual defense appropriations bill. Conferees are typically
appropriations measure, the President may request, and
drawn from the defense subcommittees of the House and
Congress may enact, additional funding for selected
Senate Appropriations Committees. Conferees are generally
activities in the form of one or more supplemental
required by House and Senate rules to negotiate within the
appropriations measures (or supplementals). These have
scope of the differences between the versions of the bill and
been used to provide funding for unforeseen needs, such as
report the result of their negotiation in the form of a
response to the terror attacks of September 11, 2001, and
conference report. Completion of the conference report is
recovery costs due to Hurricane Sandy in 2013. They have
not on a specified timeline, so negotiations are concluded
also been used as vehicles to provide funding for Overseas
only when a majority of the conferees from each chamber
Contingency Operations. Like regular appropriations bills,
sign the conference report. The conference committee will
supplementals provide specific amounts of funding for
typically begin their work as soon as possible following
individual accounts rather than funding based on a rate of
passage in both chambers.
operations (like a CR).
Once reported by the conference committee, a conference
report is subject to floor debate during consideration but is
CRS Products
not amendable. (In the Senate, reaching a vote on the
conference report may require three-fifths of the Senate to
CRS Report R42388, The Congressional Appropriations Process:
invoke cloture.) If the House and Senate each agree to the
An Introduction, coordinated by James V. Saturno
conference report, the measure is enrolled for presentation
CRS Infographic IG10005, From Bill to Law: Stages of the
to the President.
Legislative Process, by Valerie Heitshusen and Jennifer E.
Manning
While Congress has traditionally considered and approved
each regular appropriations bill separately, delays in their
consideration may lead to a combination of several
Note: For questions on the appropriations process, contact
appropriations bills into a single legislative vehicle prior to
James V. Saturno; for questions on defense appropriations,
enactment, referred to as omnibus appropriations measures.
contact Brendan W. McGarry.
James V. Saturno, Specialist on Congress and the
Legislative Process
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Defense Primer: Defense Appropriations Process
IF10514
Brendan W. McGarry, Analyst in US Defense Budget
Disclaimer
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