Updated December 7, 2021
Defense Primer: Defense Appropriations Process
The Constitution gives Congress the power of the purse in
defense, agriculture, and transportation—that set spending
Article I, Section 9, which provides that “No money shall
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,
the total new budget authority and outlays in the budget
which provide funding for numerous activities—such as
resolution to be allocated among all committees with
national defense, education, and homeland security—
spending jurisdiction. This establishes ceilings on spending
consistent with policies and priorities established through
for 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
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 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 the Marine Corps), and Air Force (including
programmatic levels and language to be included in
the Space Force); the Office of the Secretary of Defense;
appropriations bills and committee reports.
defense agencies; and intelligence activities.
After conducting these hearings, the House and Senate
Subcommittees on Military Construction, Veterans
Appropriations Committees make suballocations to the
Affairs and Related Agencies, with jurisdiction over
subcommittees, which begin to draft, mark up, and report
appropriations for the Military Construction, Chemical
the appropriations bills to their respective full committees .
Demilitarization Construction, Military Family Housing
The full committees conduct markups and may adopt
Construction and Operation and Maintenance, and Base
amendments to a subcommittee’s recommendations before
Realignment and Closure accounts; the NATO Security
reporting the bills and making them available for floor
Investment Program; the Department of Veterans
consideration. In addition to drafting the bills, the
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 and Impoundment Control Act
appropriations measures, although the Senate
of 1974 (P.L. 93-344) provides for the annual consideration
Appropriations Committee may draft or report
of a concurrent resolution on the budget, which allows
appropriations legislation in anticipation of House action.
Congress to establish overall budgetary and fiscal policy to
The House Appropriations Committee generally begins
be implemented through enactment of subsequent
reporting the appropriations bills to the House in May or
legislation. The budget resolution, in part, establishes a
June. Once reported from committee, an appropriations bill
limit on total new budget authority and outlay levels
may be scheduled for floor consideration. In the House,
divided among 20 functional categories—such as national
current practice is to consider the bill under the terms of a
https://crsreports.congress.gov
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. In some cases, the Rules
(BCA; P.L. 112-25) as amended, there was a limit on the
Committee may provide for consideration of multiple
amount of discretionary spending provided in
appropriations measures as a single measure. After being
appropriations measures for FY2012-FY2021. This amount
debated, amended, and passed by the House, the measure is
sent to the Senate.
was divided into separate limits for defense and non-
defense. The statute also provided for the caps to be
The Senate Appropriations Committee typically begins
adjusted for any appropriations designated for “Overseas
reporting the bills in June. The recent practice has generally
Contingency Operations/Global War on Terrorism,”
been for the Senate to consider the text of a bill as reported
making such spending effectively exempt from the caps.
by its Appropriations Committee in the form of a complete
substitute amendment for the House-passed bill. In the
Continuing Resolutions
Senate, floor debate and amendment consideration is
If this process is not completed prior to the start of the fiscal
typically structured pursuant to multiple unanimous consent
year (October 1), Congress may need to enact one or more
agreements. However, one or more cloture processes (by
measures to provide temporary funding authority pending
which three-fifths of the Senate, typically 60 Senators,
the final disposition of the regular appropriations bills,
votes to limit consideration) may be necessary for the
either separately or as part of an omnibus measure. Because
Senate to reach a final vote on certain amendments and on
budget authority is typically provided for a single fiscal
the bill itself.
year, temporary funding measures are necessary if action on
Conference
a regular appropriations measure has not been completed
prior to the beginning of a fiscal year in order to prevent a
The Constitution requires that the House and Senate
funding gap that could require an agency to cease non-
approve the same measure in precisely the same form
excepted activities. Traditionally, temporary funding has
before it may be presented to the President for his signature
been provided in the form of a joint resolution to allow
or veto. Consequently, once the House and Senate have
agencies or programs to continue to obligate funds at a
both completed initial consideration of an appropriations
particular rate (such as the rate of operations for the
measure, the Appropriations Committees in each chamber
previous fiscal year) for a specific period of time, which
will endeavor to negotiate a resolution of the differences
may range from a single day to an entire fiscal year. These
between their respective versions. The House and Senate
measures are known as continuing resolutions (or CRs).
can agree to convene a conference committee to conduct
this negotiation and propose a package settlement of all
Supplemental Appropriations
their disagreements. Alternatively, agreement may be
In addition to the amounts provided in a regular
reached through an exchange of amendments between the
chambers.
appropriations measure, the President may request, and
Congress may enact, additional funding for selected
The practice has generally been to use a conference
activities in the form of one or more supplemental
committee to resolve differences between the chambers on
appropriations measures (or supplementals). These have
the annual defense appropriations bill. Conferees are
been used to provide funding for unforeseen needs, such as
typically drawn from the Defense Subcommittees of the
response to the terror attacks of September 11, 2001, and
House and Senate Appropriations Committees. Conferees
recovery costs due to Hurricane Sandy in 2013. They have
are generally required by House and Senate rules to
also been used to provide funding for Overseas
negotiate within the scope of the differences between the
Contingency Operations. Like regular appropriations bills,
versions of the bill and report the result of their negotiation
supplementals provide specific amounts of funding for
in the form of a conference report. Completion of the
individual accounts rather than funding based on a rate of
conference report is not on a specified timeline, so
operations (like a CR).
negotiations are concluded only when a majority of the
conferees from each chamber sign the conference report.
CRS Products
The conference committee will typically begin its work as
CRS Report R42388, The Congressional Appropriations Process:
soon as possible following passage in both chambers.
An Introduction, coordinated by James V. Saturno
Once reported by the conference committee, a conference
CRS Infographic IG10005, From Bil to Law: Stages of the
report is subject to floor debate during consideration but is
Legislative Process, by Valerie Heitshusen and Jennifer E.
not amendable. (In the Senate, reaching a vote on the
Manning
conference report may require three-fifths of the Senate to
invoke cloture.) If the House and Senate each agree to the
Note: For questions on the appropriations process, contact
conference report, the measure is enrolled for presentation
to the President.
James V. Saturno. For questions on defense appropriations,
contact Brendan W. McGarry.
While Congress has traditionally considered and approved
each regular appropriations bill separately, the House and
James V. Saturno, Specialist on Congress and the
Senate may choose to combine several appropriations bills
Legislative Process
into a single legislative vehicle prior to enactment, referred
Brendan W. McGarry, Analyst in U.S. Defense Budget
to as omnibus appropriations measures.
IF10514
https://crsreports.congress.gov
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
copyrighted images or material from a third party, you may need to obtain the permissio n of the copyright holder if you
wish to copy or otherwise use copyrighted material.
https://crsreports.congress.gov | IF10514 · VERSION 10 · UPDATED