Updated November 17, 2022
Defense Primer: Defense Appropriations Process
The Constitution gives Congress the power of the purse in
Congress to establish overall budgetary and fiscal policy to
Article I, Section 9, which provides that “No money shall
be implemented through enactment of subsequent
be drawn from the Treasury, but in Consequence of
legislation. The budget resolution, in part, establishes a
Appropriations made by Law.” To fulfill this duty,
limit on total new budget authority and outlay levels
Congress annually considers appropriations measures,
divided among 20 functional categories—such as national
which provide funding for numerous activities—such as
defense, agriculture, and transportation—that set spending
national defense, education, and homeland security—
priorities.
consistent with policies and priorities established through
various enacted measures, such as the National Defense
Section 302(a) of the Congressional Budget Act requires
Authorization Act.
the total new budget authority and outlays in the budget
resolution to be allocated among all committees with
The congressional appropriations process includes various
spending jurisdiction. This establishes ceilings on spending
rules and practices that Congress has adopted to distinguish
for legislation reported from each committee that can be
appropriations measures and facilitate their consideration.
enforced procedurally through points of order during
These measures generally provide funding authority in
response to the President’s budget request
consideration of the legislation. All discretionary spending
for a fiscal year
is allocated to the House and Senate Appropriations
(October 1 through September 30).
Committees, which are required to subdivide this allocation
Committees of Jurisdiction
among their 12 subcommittees under Section 302(b) of the
Congressional Budget Act. These suballocations are also
The House and Senate Committees on Appropriations
enforceable during consideration of legislation, preventing
exercise jurisdiction over annual appropriations measures.
the consideration of amendments that would increase
Each committee has 12 subcommittees, each of which is
funding above these limits. In the absence of agreement on
responsible for developing one regular annual
a budget resolution, the House and Senate may use
appropriations bill. These measures determine which
alternative means to establish enforceable limits.
department activities will be funded. House and Senate
Committee Processes
Appropriations subcommittee jurisdictions are generally
parallel. The main subcommittees that deal with defense
Upon receipt of the President’s budget request, the
matters are:
appropriations subcommittees generally begin a series of
hearings in which the senior civilian and military leadership
Subcommittees on Defense, with jurisdiction over
of the Department of Defense, the military services, and
appropriations for the Departments of Army, Navy
certain defense agencies are invited to testify before the
(including the Marine Corps), and Air Force (including
subcommittees on the budget request.
the Space Force); the Office of the Secretary of Defense;
defense agencies; and intelligence activities.
At the same time, Members of Congress, including those
not serving on the Appropriations Committees, may submit
Subcommittees on Military Construction, Veterans
requests and make recommendations concerning proposed
Affairs and Related Agencies, with jurisdiction over
programmatic levels and language to be included in
appropriations for the Military Construction, Chemical
appropriations bills and committee reports.
Demilitarization Construction, Military Family Housing
Construction and Operation and Maintenance, and Base
After conducting these hearings, the House and Senate
Realignment and Closure accounts; the NATO Security
Appropriations Committees make suballocations to the
Investment Program; the Department of Veterans
subcommittees, which begin to draft, mark up, and report
Affairs; and other related agencies.
the appropriations bills to the full committees. The full
committees conduct markups and may adopt amendments
Subcommittee on Energy and Water Development, with
to a subcommittee’s recommendations before reporting the
jurisdiction over all defense-related activities of the
bills and making them available for floor consideration. In
Department of Energy, including the National Nuclear
addition to drafting the bills, the subcommittees also
Security Administration. This subcommittee also has
prepare reports, which include information required by
jurisdiction over the civil works activities of the U.S.
House and Senate rules, explain committee actions, and
Army Corps of Engineers, among other non-defense
provide guidance and directives to agencies. Committee
activities.
reports may not be amended directly during floor
The Congressional Budget Resolution
proceedings.
House and Senate Consideration
The Congressional Budget and Impoundment Control Act
of 1974 (P.L. 93-344) provides for the annual consideration
Traditionally, the House initiates consideration of regular
of a concurrent resolution on the budget, which allows
appropriations measures, although the Senate
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Defense Primer: Defense Appropriations Process
Appropriations Committee may draft or report
invoke cloture.) If the House and Senate each agree to the
appropriations legislation in anticipation of House action.
conference report, the measure is enrolled for presentation
The House Appropriations Committee generally begins
to the President.
reporting the appropriations bills to the House in May or
While Congress has historically considered each regular
June. Once reported from committee, an appropriations bill
appropriations bill separately, in current practice, the House
may be scheduled for floor consideration. In the House,
and Senate frequently choose to combine several
current practice is to consider the bill under the terms of a
appropriations bills into a single legislative vehicle prior to
special rule (reported by the House Rules Committee) that
enactment, referred to as omnibus appropriations measures.
structures the conditions of debate and specifies possible
floor amendments to the bill. In some cases, the Rules
Continuing Resolutions
Committee may provide for consideration of multiple
appropriations measures as a single measure. After being
If the appropriations process is not completed prior to the
debated, amended, and passed by the House, the measure is
start of the fiscal year (October 1), Congress may need to
sent to the Senate.
enact one or more measures to provide temporary funding
authority pending the final disposition of the regular
The Senate Appropriations Committee typically begins
appropriations bills, either separately or as part of an
reporting the bills in June. The recent practice has generally
omnibus measure. Because budget authority is typically
been for the Senate to consider the text of a bill as reported
provided for a single fiscal year, temporary funding
by its Appropriations Committee in the form of a complete
measures are necessary if action on a regular appropriations
substitute amendment for the House-passed bill. In the
measure has not been completed prior to the beginning of a
Senate, floor debate and amendment consideration is
fiscal year in order to prevent a funding gap that could
typically structured pursuant to multiple unanimous consent
require an agency to cease non-excepted activities.
agreements. However, one or more cloture processes (by
Traditionally, temporary funding has been provided in the
which three-fifths of the Senate, typically 60 Senators,
form of a joint resolution to allow agencies or programs to
votes to limit consideration) may be necessary for the
continue to obligate funds at a particular rate (such as the
Senate to reach a final vote on certain amendments or on
rate of operations for the previous fiscal year) for a specific
the bill itself.
period of time, which may range from a single day to an
Resolving Differences
entire fiscal year. These measures are known as continuing
resolutions (or CRs).
The Constitution requires that the House and Senate
Supplemental Appropriations
approve the same measure in precisely the same form
before it may be presented to the President for signature or
In addition to the amounts provided in a regular
veto. Consequently, once the House and Senate have both
appropriations measure, the President may request, and
completed initial consideration of an appropriations
Congress may enact, additional funding for selected
measure, the Appropriations Committees in each chamber
activities in the form of one or more supplemental
will endeavor to negotiate a resolution of the differences
appropriations measures (or supplementals). These have
between their respective versions. The House and Senate
been used to provide funding for unforeseen needs, such as
can agree to convene a conference committee to conduct
response to the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19)
this negotiation and propose a package settlement of all
pandemic, the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan, and the
their disagreements. Alternatively, agreement may be
Russian invasion of Ukraine. Like regular appropriations
reached through an exchange of amendments between the
bills, supplementals provide specific amounts of funding for
chambers.
individual accounts rather than funding based on a rate of
operations (like a CR).
Whether a conference committee or exchange of
amendments is used to resolve differences between the
CRS Products
chambers on the annual defense appropriations bill,
negotiators are typically drawn from the Defense
CRS Report R47106, The Appropriations Process: A Brief
Subcommittees of the House and Senate Appropriations
Overview, by James V. Saturno and Megan S. Lynch
Committees. When a conference committee is used,
CRS Infographic IG10005, From Bill to Law: Stages of the
conferees are generally required by House and Senate rules
Legislative Process, by Valerie Heitshusen and Jennifer E.
to negotiate within the scope of the differences between the
Manning
versions of the bill and report the result of their negotiation
in the form of a conference report. Completion of the
conference report is not on a specified timeline, so
Note: For questions on the appropriations process, contact
negotiations are concluded only when a majority of the
James V. Saturno. For questions on defense appropriations,
conferees from each chamber sign the conference report.
contact Brendan W. McGarry.
The conference committee will typically begin its work as
James V. Saturno, Specialist on Congress and the
soon as possible following passage in both chambers.
Legislative Process
Once reported by the conference committee, a conference
Brendan W. McGarry, Analyst in U.S. Defense Budget
report is subject to floor debate during consideration but is
not amendable. (In the Senate, reaching a vote on the
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conference report may require three-fifths of the Senate to
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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
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