Updated February 2, 2024
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
In the absence of agreement on a budget resolution,
Authorization Act.
Congress may establish an enforceable limit on
appropriations through alternate means, such as a deeming
The congressional appropriations process includes various
resolution or a statute. The Fiscal Responsibility Act of
rules and practices that Congress has adopted to distinguish
2023 (P.L. 118-5) established a statutory limit on the level
appropriations measures and facilitate their consideration.
of budget authority that can be provided in appropriations
These measures generally provide funding authority in
response to the President’s budget request
acts for FY2024 and FY2025, divided into separate
for a fiscal year
amounts for defense and non-defense. If spending in excess
(October 1 through September 30).
of either of these statutory limits is enacted, the President is
Committees of Jurisdiction
required to issue a sequester order making across-the-board
cuts in non-exempt programs and activities within the
The House and Senate Committees on Appropriations
breached category.
exercise jurisdiction over annual appropriations measures.
Each committee has 12 subcommittees, each of which is
Once Congress has established the total, Section 302(a) of
responsible for developing one regular annual
the Congressional Budget Act requires it to be allocated
appropriations bill. These measures determine which
among all committees with spending jurisdiction. This
department activities will be funded. House and Senate
establishes ceilings on spending for legislation reported
Appropriations subcommittee jurisdictions are generally
from each committee that can be enforced procedurally
parallel. The main subcommittees that deal with defense
through points of order during consideration of the
matters are:
legislation. All discretionary spending is allocated to the
•
House and Senate Appropriations Committees, which are
Subcommittees on Defense, with jurisdiction over
required to subdivide this allocation among their 12
appropriations for the Departments of Army, Navy
subcommittees under Section 302(b) of the Congressional
(including the Marine Corps), and Air Force (including
Budget Act. These suballocations are also enforceable
the Space Force); the Office of the Secretary of Defense;
during consideration of legislation, preventing the
defense agencies; and intelligence activities.
consideration of amendments that would increase funding
• Subcommittees on Military Construction, Veterans
above these limits.
Affairs and Related Agencies, with jurisdiction over
Committee Processes
appropriations for the Military Construction, Chemical
Demilitarization Construction, Military Family Housing
Upon receipt of the President’s budget request, the
Construction and Operation and Maintenance, and Base
appropriations subcommittees generally begin a series of
Realignment and Closure accounts; the NATO Security
hearings in which the senior civilian and military leadership
Investment Program; the Department of Veterans
of the Department of Defense, the military services, and
Affairs; and other related agencies.
certain defense agencies are invited to testify before the
•
subcommittees on the budget request.
Subcommittee on Energy and Water Development, with
jurisdiction over all defense-related activities of the
At the same time, Members of Congress, including those
Department of Energy, including the National Nuclear
not serving on the Appropriations Committees, may submit
Security Administration. This subcommittee also has
requests and make recommendations concerning proposed
jurisdiction over the civil works activities of the U.S.
programmatic levels and language to be included in
Army Corps of Engineers, among other non-defense
appropriations bills and committee reports.
activities.
After conducting these hearings, the House and Senate
The Congressional Budget Resolution
Appropriations Committees make suballocations to the
subcommittees, which begin to draft, mark up, and report
The Congressional Budget and Impoundment Control Act
the appropriations bills to the full committees. The full
of 1974 (P.L. 93-344) provides for the annual consideration
committees conduct markups and may adopt amendments
of a concurrent resolution on the budget, which allows
to a subcommittee’s recommendations before reporting the
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Defense Primer: Defense Appropriations Process
bills and making them available for floor consideration. In
conference report is not on a specified timeline, so
addition to drafting the bills, the subcommittees also
negotiations are concluded only when a majority of the
prepare reports, which include information required by
conferees from each chamber sign the conference report.
House and Senate rules, explain committee actions, and
Once reported by the conference committee, a conference
provide guidance and directives to agencies. Committee
report is subject to floor debate during consideration but is
reports may not be amended directly during floor
not amendable. (In the Senate, reaching a vote on the
proceedings.
conference report may require three-fifths of the Senate to
House and Senate Consideration
invoke cloture.) If the House and Senate each agree to the
conference report, the measure is enrolled for presentation
Traditionally, the House initiates consideration of regular
to the President.
appropriations measures, although the Senate
Appropriations Committee may draft or report
While Congress has historically considered each regular
appropriations legislation in anticipation of House action.
appropriations bill separately, in current practice, the House
The House Appropriations Committee generally begins
and Senate frequently choose to combine several
reporting the appropriations bills to the House in May or
appropriations bills into a single legislative vehicle prior to
June. Once reported from committee, an appropriations bill
enactment, referred to as omnibus appropriations measures.
may be scheduled for floor consideration. In the House,
Continuing Resolutions
current practice is to consider the bill under the terms of a
special rule (reported by the House Rules Committee) that
If the appropriations process is not completed prior to the
structures the conditions of debate and specifies possible
start of the fiscal year (October 1), Congress may need to
floor amendments to the bill. In some cases, the Rules
enact one or more measures to provide temporary funding
Committee may provide for consideration of multiple
authority pending the final disposition of the regular
appropriations measures as a single measure. After being
appropriations bills, either separately or as part of an
debated, amended, and passed by the House, the measure is
omnibus measure. Because budget authority is typically
sent to the Senate.
provided for a single fiscal year, temporary funding
measures are necessary if action on a regular appropriations
The Senate Appropriations Committee typically begins
measure has not been completed prior to the beginning of a
reporting the bills in June. The recent practice has generally
fiscal year in order to prevent a funding gap that could
been for the Senate to consider the text of a bill as reported
require an agency to cease non-excepted activities.
by its Appropriations Committee in the form of a complete
Traditionally, temporary funding has been provided in the
substitute amendment for the House-passed bill. In the
form of a joint resolution to allow agencies or programs to
Senate, floor debate and amendment consideration is
continue to obligate funds at a particular rate (such as the
typically structured pursuant to multiple unanimous consent
rate of operations for the previous fiscal year) for a specific
agreements. However, one or more cloture processes (by
period of time, which may range from a single day to an
which three-fifths of the Senate, typically 60 Senators,
entire fiscal year. These measures are known as continuing
votes to limit consideration) may be necessary for the
resolutions (or CRs).
Senate to reach a final vote on certain amendments or on
the bill itself.
Supplemental Appropriations
Resolving Differences
In addition to the amounts provided in a regular
appropriations measure, the President may request, and
The Constitution requires that the House and Senate
Congress may enact, additional funding for selected
approve the same measure in precisely the same form
activities in the form of one or more supplemental
before it may be presented to the President for signature or
appropriations measures (or supplementals). These have
veto. Consequently, once the House and Senate have both
been used to provide funding for unforeseen needs, such as
completed initial consideration of an appropriations
response to the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19)
measure, the Appropriations Committees in each chamber
pandemic, the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan, and the
will endeavor to negotiate a resolution of the differences
Russian invasion of Ukraine. Like regular appropriations
between their respective versions. The House and Senate
bills, supplementals provide specific amounts of funding for
can agree to convene a conference committee to conduct
individual accounts rather than funding based on a rate of
this negotiation and propose a package settlement of all
operations (like a CR).
their disagreements. Alternatively, agreement may be
reached through an exchange of amendments between the
CRS Product
chambers.
CRS Report R47106, The Appropriations Process: A Brief
Whether a conference committee or exchange of
Overview, by James V. Saturno and Megan S. Lynch
amendments is used to resolve differences between the
chambers on the annual defense appropriations bill,
negotiators are typically drawn from the Defense
Note: For questions on the appropriations process, contact
Subcommittees of the House and Senate Appropriations
James V. Saturno. For questions on defense appropriations,
Committees. When a conference committee is used,
contact Brendan W. McGarry.
conferees are generally required by House and Senate rules
to negotiate within the scope of the differences between the
James V. Saturno, Specialist on Congress and the
versions of the bill and report the result of their negotiation
Legislative Process
in the form of a conference report. Completion of the
Brendan W. McGarry, Analyst in U.S. Defense Budget
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Defense Primer: Defense Appropriations Process
IF10514
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