FY2024 Defense Appropriations: Status of
Legislative Activity
Updated September 29, 2023
Article I, Section 9, of the Constitution states that “No Money shall be drawn from the Treasury, but in
Consequence of Appropriations made by Law.” As a result, it is up to Congress whether to enact
legislation to provide federal departments and agencies with funding to carry out their duties. In practice,
Congress appropriates defense funding on an annual basis (with varying periods of availability, depending
on the type of appropriation). When Congress and the President do not approve full-year appropriations
for the U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) and other defense-related activities by the October 1 start of
the government’s fiscal year, they may approve one or more continuing resolutions (CRs) to provide
temporary funding for such activities, or allow appropriations to lapse resulting in a shutdown of affected
activities.
The Department of Defense Appropriations Act is one of 12 annual appropriations measures under the
jurisdiction of the House and Senate Committees on Appropriations. It is the largest single appropriations
act in terms of discretionary funding. Typically part of a two-step defense authorization and appropriation
process, the defense appropriations bill primarily funds DOD activities except for military construction
and family housing programs (which are typically funded in the Military Construction, Veterans Affairs
and Related Agencies Appropriations Act). The defense appropriations bill also funds certain activities of
the intelligence community.
By law (31 U.S.C. §1105(a)), the President is to submit the annual federal budget request to Congress by
the first Monday in February, though, in practice, it is sometimes delayed. On March 9, 2023, President
Joe Biden submitted initial documentation supporting the FY2024 budget request, including proposed
funding for the DOD and other national defense-related activities. This product provides the status of
congressional activity on proposed versions of a Department of Defense Appropriations Act, 2024 (H.R.
4365; S. 2587).
H.R. 4365
On February 28, 2023, the House Appropriations Committee (HAC) issued Member Request Guidance
for submitting legislative proposals to fund programs, projects, and activities; adopting bill or report
language directing or encouraging specific actions by agencies or officials; and funding local projects
(i.e., Community Project Funding). The document did not contain guidance for Community Project
Funding in the defense appropriations bill.
Congressional Research Service
https://crsreports.congress.gov
IN12237

---

link to page 3 Congressional Research Service
2
Between February and April, the House Committee on Appropriations’ Subcommittee on Defense (HAC-
D) held six open hearings and seven classified sessions in part to review and receive testimony on the
FY2024 President’s budget request. Topics for the open sessions included Ukraine oversight, a Member
Day for Members to share their defense priorities with the subcommittee, and budget hearings on the
FY2024 requests for the DOD, Air Force and Space Force, Army, and Navy and Marine Corps.
On June 14, the HAC released a draft measure and a summary of a Department of Defense Appropriations
Act, 2024. On June 15, 2023, the HAC adopted draft FY2024 subcommittee allocations, including for the
HAC-D. That same day, the subcommittee held a closed session and approved by voice vote its version of
the FY2024 defense appropriations bill. On June 22, HAC convened a full committee hearing to mark up
the legislation and vote on amendments, including roll call votes on certain amendments not contained in
the subcommittee mark. The committee voted 34-24 to report the bill as amended to the House. On June
27, the HAC reported the bill and accompanying report to the House (H.R. 4365; H.Rept. 118-121). The
report contained additional funding information (i.e., compared line-item level funding amounts in the
President’s budget request to committee recommendations), explained certain committee actions, and
provided further guidance and directives to DOD. On September 28, the House passed H.R. 4365, as
amended, by a vote of 218-210.
S. 2587
On February 24, 2023, the Senate Appropriations Committee (SAC) issued Member Guidance for
submitting legislative proposals to fund agency programs, projects, and activities; adopting bill or report
language directing or encouraging specific actions by agencies or officials; and funding local projects
(i.e., Congressionally Directed Funding). The document stated the committee would not accept requests
for Congressionally Directed Funding in the defense appropriations bill.
Between March and June, the committee’s Subcommittee on Defense (SAC-D) held open and closed
hearings to review and receive testimony on the FY2024 President’s budget request for defense and
intelligence activities. Open hearings during this period included reviews of the FY2024 budget request
for the Navy and Marine Corps, Air Force and Space Force, Army, DOD, and National Guard and
Reserve. Closed hearings during this period included similar reviews of the FY2024 budget request for
hypersonic threats, missile defense, and the protection of the U.S. homeland; capacity of the defense
industrial base and wartime stockpiles; space capabilities of the DOD and intelligence community; and
the Central Intelligence Agency and National Security Agency. Earlier in the year, the SAC-D held
oversight hearings on China’s high-altitude surveillance efforts against the United States and the DOD
Defense Health Program.
On June 22, the SAC reported its FY2024 subcommittee allocations, including for the Defense
subcommittee (S.Rept. 118-45). (These allocations were subsequently revised, most recently on July 26;
S.Rept. 118-78). On July 27, the full committee considered the defense appropriations bill, adopted
amendments, and voted 27-1 to report the bill to the Senate. The same day, the SAC reported the bill and
accompanying report (S. 2587; S.Rept. 118-81) to the Senate.
Table 1 shows the status of legislative activity on the proposed versions of a Department of Defense
Appropriations Act, 2024.

---

link to page 3
Congressional Research Service
3
Table 1. FY2024 Defense Appropriations: Status of Legislative Activity
Public
House
Senate
Law
Initial
Initial
Consid.
Consid.
—Vote #
—Vote
(yeas-
# (yeas-
Bill #,
nays),
nays),
P.L. #,
Date
Report #,
Date
Final
Bill #, Date
Report #,
Date
Final
Date
Reported
Date
Passed
Consid.
Reported
Date
Passed
Consid.
Signed
H.R. 4365,
H.Rept.
502 (218-






6/27/2023
118-121
210),
6/27/2023
9/28/2023




S. 2587
S.Rept.



7/27/2023
118-81,
7/27/2023
Source: CRS analysis of legislation on Congress.gov.
Note: Consid. is “consideration.”
Figure 1 shows the timing of the annual defense appropriations act since FY1977, when the federal
government transitioned to a fiscal year beginning October 1, 1976. The figure shows that since FY1977
annual defense appropriations legislation has been enacted, on average, 56 days after the beginning of the
fiscal year (i.e., late November).
Figure 1. Days between Start of Fiscal Year and Enactment of Annual Defense
Appropriations Act, FY1977-FY2023
(in number of days)

Source: CRS figure based on data from CRS Report 98-756, Defense Authorization and Appropriations Bills: FY1961-FY2021,
by Barbara Salazar Torreon and Sofia Plagakis; P.L. 117-103; and P.L. 117-328.
Notes: Positive values indicate number of days between start of the fiscal year and enactment of annual defense
appropriations acts. Negative values indicate number of days between enactment of annual defense appropriations acts and
start of fiscal year. The Department of Defense Appropriations Act, 2024, has not been enacted and is not shown in the
figure.

---

Congressional Research Service
4


Author Information

Cameron M. Keys
Brendan W. McGarry
Analyst in Defense Logistics and Resource Management
Specialist in U.S. Defense Budget
Policy





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
permission of the copyright holder if you wish to copy or otherwise use copyrighted material.

IN12237 · VERSION 3 · UPDATED

---