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INSIGHTi
FY2022 NDAA: President’s Budget Request
Updated January 11, 2022
The annual National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) typically authorizes discretionary funding for
nearly all Department of Defense (DOD) programs, national security programs of the Department of
Energy, and certain other defense-related activities. While the NDAA does not appropriate funding (i.e.,
provide budget authority), the legislation establishes or continues defense programs, projects, or
activities, and provides guidance on how appropriated funds are to be used in carrying out those efforts.
(The statutory requirement for annual authorization of appropriations for defense programs is codified at
10 U.S.C. §114.)
The FY2022 President’s budget requested more than $6 trillion in discretionary and mandatory funding,
of which $768.3 billion (12.4%) was for activities within the national defense budget function. The latter
was $14.3 billion (1.9%) more than the FY2021 level, excluding funds provided by the Emergency
Security Supplemental Appropriations Act, 2021 (P.L. 117-31).
National defense is one of 20 major functions used by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) to
organize budget data and the largest in terms of discretionary funding. Identified by the numerical
notation 050, the national defense budget function is the broadest measure by which the U.S. government
categorizes defense funding. The function comprises the following subfunctions:
Department of Defense (DOD)-Military (identified by the notation 051), which
includes military and intelligence activities of the DOD;
Atomic energy defense activities (053), which includes nuclear weapons and reactor
programs of the Department of Energy; and
Defense-related activities (054), which includes national security activities of several
other agencies, such as Federal Bureau of Investigation counterintelligence activities.
Historically, DOD has accounted for the bulk—approximately 95%—of funding within the national
defense budget function. For FY2022, the Administration requested $727.9 billion for DOD-Military
(11.7% of the federal budget); $29.9 billion for atomic energy defense activities (0.5%); and $10.5 billion
for defense-related activities (0.2%) (see Figure 1).
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Figure 1. FY2022 President’s Budget Request by National Defense Budget Function and
Subfunctions
(in percentages of total budget authority)
Source: CRS analysis of GPO, Budget of the U.S. Government Fiscal Year 2022, Historical Tables, Table 5.1, “Budget
Authority by Function and Subfunction: 1976-2026,” at https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/BUDGET-2022-
TAB/xls/BUDGET-2022-TAB-6-1.xlsx.
Notes: Includes discretionary and mandatory funding; other budget functions include International Affairs (150); General
Science, Space, and Technology (250); Energy (270); Natural Resources and Environment (300); Agriculture (350);
Commerce and Housing Credit (370); Transportation (400); Community and Regional Development (450); Education,
Training, Employment, and Social Services (500); Health (550); Medicare (570); Income Security (600); Social Security
(650); Veterans Benefits and Services (700); Administration of Justice (750); General Government (800); Net Interest
(900); Allowances (920); and Undistributed Offsetting Receipts (950).
The national defense budget request included $752.9 billion in discretionary funding and $15.4 billion for
mandatory funding. In general, funding for discretionary programs is provided in appropriations acts;
while funding for mandatory programs (e.g., Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid) is controlled by
other laws. For DOD, most discretionary programs are funded in major appropriation titles, such as
operation and maintenance (O&M), military personnel (MILPERS), procurement, and research,
development, test, and evaluation (RDT&E); while mandatory programs include, among other things,
certain retirement benefits (e.g., concurrent receipt payments to the military retirement fund for disabled
military retirees to receive both retirement pay and VA disability compensation pay).
The vast majority (approximately 97%) of funding in the national defense budget request falls within the
scope of the NDAA. The legislation generally authorizes discretionary funding for almost all programs in
the 051 and 053 subfunctions, and relatively few programs in the 054 subfunction. The latter includes
certain Department of Transportation (DOT) Maritime Administration (MARAD) activities (e.g.,
Maritime Security Program).
The national defense budget request included approximately $743 billion for discretionary programs
within the scope of the NDAA, according to the House Armed Services Committee (HASC) report
(H.Rept. 117-118) accompanying its version of the FY2022 NDAA (H.R. 4350) and the Senate Armed
Services Committee (SASC) report (S.Rept. 117-39) accompanying its version of the legislation (S.
2792).
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The House-passed and SASC-reported NDAA would have authorized approximately $768 billion—$25
billion (3.4%) more than the request, according to H.Rept. 117-118 and S.Rept. 117-39 (see Table 1). The
enacted legislation authorized $768.2 billion—$25.1 billion (3.4%) more than the request, according to
the accompanying explanatory statement.
Table 1. Discretionary Authorizations within the FY2022 NDAA
(in billions of dollars of budget authority)
Budget Subfunction
Notation
President’s House-passed
SASC-reported
Enacted P.L. 117-
Name
budget
H.R. 4350
S. 2792
81
request
Department of Defense-
051
$714.8
$739.5
$740.0
$740.0
Military
Atomic Energy Defense
053
$27.9
$28.2
$27.7
$27.8
Programs
Defense-Related Activities
054
$0.4
$0.4
$0.0a
$0.4
(MARAD programs)
National Defense, Total
050
$743.1
$768.1
$767.7
$768.2
Source: HASC report (H.Rept. 117-118; Part 1) accompanying its H.R. 4350, p. 350; SASC report (S.Rept. 117-39)
accompanying S. 2792, p. 381; and explanatory statement accompanying the FY2022 NDAA (S. 1605; P.L. 117-81) in Part 2
of the House section of the Congressional Record, December 7, 2021, p. H7364.
Notes:
a. For the defense-related activities budget subfunction (054), HASC typically authorizes appropriations for certain
Department of Transportation (DOT) Maritime Administration (MARAD) activities (e.g., Maritime Security Program).
While the Senate Armed Services Committee typically does not authorize appropriations for these activities, the final
version of the NDAA does.
Author Information
Brendan W. McGarry
Analyst in U.S. Defense Budget
Disclaimer
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IN11804 · VERSION 2 · UPDATED