Updated December 21, 2020
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.”
Section 302(a) of the Congressional Budget Act requires
To fulfill this duty,
that the total new budget authority and outlays in the budget
Congress annually considers appropriations measures,
resolution be allocated among all committees with spending
which provide funding for numerous activities—such as
jurisdiction. This establishes ceilings on spending for
national defense, education, and homeland security—
legislation reported from each committee that can be
consistent with policies and priorities established through
enforced procedurally through points of order during
legislation such as the National Defense Authorization Act.
consideration of the legislation. All discretionary spending
is allocated to the House and Senate Appropriations
The congressional appropriations process includes various
Committees, which are required to subdivide this allocation
rules and practices that Congress has adopted to distinguish
among their 12 subcommittees under Section 302(b) of the
appropriations measures and facilitate their consideration.
Congressional Budget Act. These suballocations are also
These measures generally provide funding authority in
response to the President’s budget request
enforceable during consideration of legislation, preventing
for a fiscal year
the consideration of amendments that would increase
(October 1 through September 30).
funding above these limits. In the absence of agreement on
Committees of Jurisdiction
a budget resolution, the House and Senate may use
alternative means to establish enforceable limits.
The House and Senate Committees on Appropriations
exercise jurisdiction over the annual appropriations
Committee Processes
measures. Each committee has 12 subcommittees, with
Upon receipt of the President’s budget request, the
each subcommittee having responsibility for developing
appropriations subcommittees begin a series of hearings in
one regular annual appropriations bill to provide funding
which the senior civilian and military leadership of the
for departments and activities within its jurisdiction. The
Department of Defense, the military services, and certain
jurisdictions of the House and Senate Appropriations
defense agencies are invited to testify before the
subcommittees are generally parallel. The main
subcommittees on the budget request.
subcommittees dealing with defense matters are
At the same time, Members of Congress may submit
Subcommittees on Defense, with jurisdiction over
requests and make recommendations concerning proposed
appropriations for the Departments of Army, Navy
programmatic levels and language to be included in
(including Marine Corps), and Air Force; the Office of
appropriations bills and committee reports.
the Secretary of Defense; defense agencies; the Central
Intelligence Agency; and the Intelligence Community
After conducting these hearings, the House and Senate
staff.
Appropriations Committees make their suballocations, and
the subcommittees begin to draft, mark up, and report the
Subcommittees on Military Construction, Veterans
appropriations bills to their respective full committees . The
Affairs and Related Agencies, with jurisdiction over
full committees also hold markups and may adopt
appropriations for the Military Construction, Chemical
amendments to a subcommittee’s recommendations before
Demilitarization Construction, Military Family Housing
reporting the bills and making them available for floor
Construction and Operation and Maintenance, and Base
consideration. In addition to drafting the bills, the
Realignment and Closure accounts; the NATO Security
subcommittees also prepare reports, which include
Investment Program; the Department of Veterans
information required by House and Senate rules, explain
Affairs; and other related agencies.
committee actions, and provide guidance and directives to
Subcommittee on Energy and Water Development, with
agencies. Committee reports may not be amended directly
jurisdiction over the Army Corps of Engineers and all
during floor proceedings.
defense-related activities of the Department of Energy,
House and Senate Consideration
including the National Nuclear Security Administration.
Traditionally, the House initiates consideration of regular
The Congressional Budget Resolution
appropriations measures, although the Senate
Appropriations Committee may draft or report
The Congressional Budget Act of 1974 provides for the
appropriations legislation in anticipation of House action.
annual consideration of a concurrent resolution on the
The House Appropriations Committee generally begins
budget, which allows Congress to establish overall
reporting the appropriations bills to the House in May or
budgetary and fiscal policy to be implemented through
June. Once reported from committee, an appropriations bill
enactment of subsequent legislation. The budget resolution,
may be scheduled for floor consideration. In the House,
in part, establishes a limit on total new budget authority and
current practice is to consider the bill under the terms of a
outlay levels divided among 20 functional categories—such
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Defense Primer: Defense Appropriations Process
special rule (reported by the House Rules Committee) that
Statutory Spending Limit
structures the conditions of debate and specifies possible
Under the provisions of the Budget Control Act of 2011,
floor amendments to the bill. After being debated,
there has been a limit on the amount of discretionary
amended, and passed by the House, the measure is sent to
spending provided in appropriations measures for FY2012-
the Senate.
FY2021. This amount is divided into separate limits for
The Senate Appropriations Committee typically begins
defense and non-defense. For any fiscal year, if spending in
reporting the bills in June. The recent practice has generally
excess of either of these statutory limits is enacted, the
been for the Senate to consider the text of a bill as reported
President is required to issue a sequester order making
by its Appropriations Committee in the form of a complete
across-the-board cuts in non-exempt programs and
substitute amendment for the House-passed bill. In the
activities within the breached category. The statute also
Senate, floor debate and amendment consideration is
provides, however, for the caps to be adjusted for any
typically structured pursuant to multiple unanimous consent
appropriations designated for “Overseas Contingency
agreements. However, one or more cloture processes (by
Operations/Global War on Terrorism,” making such
which three-fifths of the Senate, typically 60 Senators,
spending effectively exempt from the caps.
votes to limit consideration) may be necessary for the
Continuing Resolutions
Senate to reach a final vote on certain amendments and on
the bill itself.
If this process is not completed prior to the start of the fiscal
Conference
year (October 1), Congress may need to enact one or more
measures to provide temporary funding authority pending
The Constitution requires that the House and Senate
the final disposition of the regular appropriations bills,
approve the same measure in precisely the same form
either separately or as part of an omnibus measure. Because
before it may be presented to the President for his signature
budget authority is typically provided for a single fiscal
or veto. Consequently, once the House and Senate have
year, temporary funding measures are necessary if action on
both completed initial consideration of an appropriations
a regular appropriations measure has not been completed
measure, the Appropriations Committees in each chamber
prior to the beginning of a fiscal year in order to prevent a
will endeavor to negotiate a resolution of the differences
funding gap that could require an agency to cease non-
between their respective versions. The House and Senate
excepted activities. Traditionally, temporary funding has
can agree to convene a conference committee to conduct
been provided in the form of a joint resolution to allow
this negotiation and propose a package settlement of all
agencies or programs to continue to obligate funds at a
their disagreements. Alternatively, agreement may be
particular rate (such as the rate of operations for the
reached through an exchange of amendments between the
previous fiscal year) for a specific period of time, which
houses.
may range from a single day to an entire fiscal year. These
measures are known as continuing resolutions (or CRs).
The practice has generally been to use a conference
committee to resolve differences between the houses on the
Supplemental Appropriations
annual defense appropriations bill. Conferees are typically
In addition to the amounts provided in a regular
drawn from the defense subcommittees of the House and
appropriations measure, the President may request, and
Senate Appropriations Committees. Conferees are generaly
Congress may enact, additional funding for selected
required by House and Senate rules to negotiate within the
activities in the form of one or more supplemental
scope of the differences between the versions of the bill and
appropriations measures (or supplementals). These have
report the result of their negotiation in the form of a
been used to provide funding for unforeseen needs, such as
conference report. Completion of the conference report is
response to the terror attacks of September 11, 2001, and
not on a specified timeline, so negotiations are concluded
recovery costs due to Hurricane Sandy in 2013. They have
only when a majority of the conferees from each chamber
also been used as vehicles to provide funding for Overseas
sign the conference report. The conference committee will
Contingency Operations. Like regular appropriations bills,
typically begin their work as soon as possible following
supplementals provide specific amounts of funding for
passage in both chambers.
individual accounts rather than funding based on a rate of
Once reported by the conference committee, a conference
operations (like a CR).
report is subject to floor debate during consideration but is
not amendable. (In the Senate, reaching a vote on the
CRS Products
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
to the President.
CRS Infographic IG10005, From Bil to Law: Stages of the
Legislative Process, by Valerie Heitshusen and Jennifer E.
While Congress has traditionally considered and approved
Manning
each regular appropriations bill separately, delays in their
consideration may lead to a combination of several
Note to congressional clients: For questions on the
appropriations bills into a single legislative vehicle prior to
enactment, referred to as omnibus appropriations measures.
appropriations process, contact James V. Saturno. For
questions on defense appropriations, contact Brendan W.
McGarry.
https://crsreports.congress.gov
Defense Primer: Defense Appropriations Process
Brendan W. McGarry, Analyst in U.S. Defense Budget
IF10514
James V. Saturno, Specialist on Congress and the
Legislative Process
Disclaimer
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