FY2023 NDAA: Status of Legislative Activity

FY2023 NDAA: Status of Legislative Activity

INSIGHTi

FY2023 NDAA: Status of Legislative Activity
Updated December 29, 2022
By law (31 U.S.C. §1105(a)), the President is to send the federal budget request to Congress by the first
Monday in February. In practice, Presidents sometimes send it later. On March 28, 2022, President Joseph
R. Biden submitted the FY2023 budget request, including proposed funding for the Department of
Defense (DOD), nuclear weapons programs of the Department of Energy, and other national defense-
related activities. The National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) typically sets policy and authorizes
appropriations for the vast majority of these activities. This product provides the status of congressional
activity on National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2023 proposals and enacted legislation
(FY2023 NDAA; H.R. 7900; S. 4543; H.R. 7776; P.L. 117-263).
On June 6-8, 2022, in preparation of subcommittee and full committee markups, the seven subcommittees
of the House Armed Services Committee (HASC) released draft legislative proposals (known as marks)
for matters in the FY2023 NDAA under their respective jurisdictions. On June 8-9, the HASC
subcommittees considered and reported their marks to the full committee. On June 20, Representative
Adam Smith, Chair of HASC, released his draft legislative proposals (i.e., Chairman’s mark) for portions
of the bill not in the subcommittee marks. On June 22, the HASC began considering and marking up the
legislation. On June 23, the committee voted 57-1 to order H.R. 7900 reported to the House with an
amendment in the nature of a substitute reflecting the product of the two-day markup. On July 1, the
committee filed its report, H.Rept. 117-397, to accompany the legislation. On July 7, the committee filed
a supplemental report that included the Congressional Budget Office’s cost estimate for the bill. On July
12, the House Rules Committee met to report a structured rule for the House to consider H.R. 7900 and
other legislation. On July 13-14, the House debated and considered amendments to H.R. 7900. On July
14, the House passed the measure, as amended, by a vote of 329-101.
Meanwhile, in the Senate, on June 13-14, 2022, the seven subcommittees of the Senate Armed Services
Committee (SASC) marked up draft legislative proposals with recommendations for matters in the
FY2023 NDAA under their respective jurisdictions. As in previous years, two of the markups were held
in open sessions (Subcommittee on Readiness and Management Support, and Subcommittee on
Personnel), and five were closed. On June 15-16, the full committee considered the legislation in a closed
session. On June 16, Senators Jack Reed and Jim Inhofe, Chair and Ranking Member, respectively, of
SASC, announced the committee voted 23-3 to order reported an original bill reflecting changes agreed to
in markup. On July 18, SASC reported S. 4543 and filed the accompanying report S.Rept. 117-130. The
Senate did not consider S. 4543. On October 11, the Senate proceeded to consider H.R. 7900, to which
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Senator Reed then offered a complete substitute amendment (S.Amdt. 5499, as modified) based on the
text of S. 4543 and that also incorporated a number of additional proposals.
Similar to the FY2022 NDAA (P.L. 117-81), the House and Senate did not reach a stage at which a
conference committee could be established to reconcile two versions of the bill. Instead, HASC and
SASC leaders negotiated a bicameral agreement based on the two versions. On December 6, the
committees announced the release of the agreement, which was to be considered as a House amendment
to a Senate amendment to an unrelated bill, H.R. 7776. On December 8, an explanatory statement to
accompany the House amendment was published in Part 3 of the House section of the Congressional
Record. The final text of the NDAA provided that this statement was to be treated as if it were the formal
joint explanatory statement issued by a conference committee. The same day, the House voted 350-80 to
adopt H.Res. 1512, by which the House agreed to the House amendment and returned the bill to the
Senate. On December 15, the Senate voted 83-11 to agree to the House amendment without any changes,
allowing the measure to be enrolled for presentation to the President. On December 23, President Biden
signed the James M. Inhofe National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2023 into law (P.L. 117-
263).
Table 1 shows the status of legislative activity on the FY2023 NDAA.
Table 1. FY2023 NDAA: Status of Legislative Activity
Public
House
Senate
Law
Vote #
Vote #
(yeas-
(yeas-
nays),
HASC-SASC
nays),
HASC-SASC
P.L. #,
Bill #, Date
Report #,
Date
Negotiated
Bill #, Date
Report #,
Date
Negotiated
Date
Reported
Date
Passed
Proposal
Reported
Date
Passed
Proposal
Signed
H.R. 7900,
H.Rept.
350 (329-

7/1/22
117-397,
101),
7/1/22
7/14/22

S. 4543,
S.Rept.

7/18/22
117-130,
7/18/22
House

516 (350-
Explanatory
House

396 (83-
Explanatory
P.L. 117-
amendment
80),
statement
amendment
11),
statement
263,
to the Senate
12/8/22
published in
to the Senate
12/15/22
published in
12/23/22
amendment
(H.Res.
Part 3 of the
amendment
Part 3 of the
to H.R. 7776,
1512)a
12/8/22
to H.R. 7776,
12/8/22
12/8/22
Congressional
12/8/22
Congressional
Recordb
Recordb
Source: CRS analysis of selected actions in Congress.gov.
Note:
a. On December 8, 2022, the House voted 350-80 in favor of the bicameral agreement on the FY2023 NDAA by
adopting H.Res. 1512.
b. An explanatory statement to accompany the FY2023 NDAA was published in Part 3 of the House section of the
Congressional Record.
Figure 1 shows the number of days between the start of the fiscal year and enactment of the annual
defense authorization act since FY1977, when the federal government transitioned to a fiscal year
beginning October 1, 1976.

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Figure 1. Days between Start of Fiscal Year and Enactment of Annual Defense
Authorization Acts, FY1977-FY2023
(in days)

Source: CRS analysis of dates of enactment of public law from CRS Report 98-756, Defense Authorization and
Appropriations Bills: FY1961-FY2021, by Barbara Salazar Torreon and Sofia Plagakis; P.L. 117-81; and P.L. 117-263.
Note: Positive values indicate number of days between start of the fiscal year and enactment of annual defense
authorization acts. Thus, the figure shows that since FY1977 annual defense authorization legislation has been enacted, on
average, 43 days after the beginning of the fiscal year (i.e., early November). Negative values indicate number of days
between enactment of annual defense authorization acts and start of fiscal year. Annual defense authorization legislation
for the fiscal years 1979, 1989, 1996, 2008, 2016, and 2021 was enacted over a presidential veto.

Author Information

Brendan W. McGarry
Valerie Heitshusen
Analyst in US Defense Budget
Specialist on Congress and the Legislative Process

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