Department of Defense (DOD) military construction and family housing programs fund infrastructure to support military operations and servicemembers around the world. The Biden Administration's fiscal year 2025 (FY2025) budget submission to Congress requested $17.545 billion for DOD's military construction (MILCON) and family housing programs.
On May 28, 2024, the House Appropriations Committee reported a Military Construction, Veterans Affairs, and Related Agencies Appropriation Act (MILCON-VA), 2025, H.R. 8580 (H.Rept. 118-528). On June 5, 2024, the House passed H.R. 8580, which would have provided $17.957 billion for DOD MILCON accounts, 2.3% more than the requested amount. On July 11, 2024, the Senate Appropriations Committee reported a version of the bill, S. 4677 (S.Rept. 118-191), which would have provided<del> </del>$19.307 billion for DOD MILCON and family housing accounts, 10.0% more than the requested amount.
On March 15, 2025, President Trump signed H.R. 1968—the Full-Year Continuing Appropriations and Extensions Act, 2025—into law as P.L. 119-4. The law generally authorized DOD appropriations provided for FY2024 to continue at the same levels for FY2025, but Division A, Title XI of the law contained exceptions that provided new FY2025 appropriations for some MILCON and family housing accounts. The law provided a total of $17.509 billion for these accounts. (Additional information about the appropriations act is available in CRS Report R48517, Section-by-Section Summary of the Full-Year Continuing Appropriations Act, 2025 (Division A of P.L. 119-4), coordinated by Drew C. Aherne).
Congress also provided additional funding for DOD's FY2025 MILCON and family housing accounts in the American Relief Act, 2025, which became P.L. 118-59 on Dec. 1, 2024. This law appropriated $1.765 billion for the Navy and Air Force "for necessary expenses related to the consequences of Typhoon Mawar" on U.S. Navy and U.S. Air Force facilities on the U.S. territory of Guam.
Table 1. FY2025 MILCON-VA Appropriations for Selected Military Construction Accounts
(in thousands of dollars of discretionary budget authority)
|
Account |
FY2024 MILCON-VA Enacted |
FY2025 President's Budget Request |
|
|
American Relief Act, 2025 |
FY2025 Full-Year Continuing Resolution (P.L. 119-4) |
|
MILCON, Army |
$2,022,775 |
$2,311,157 |
$2,217,757 |
$2,380,477 |
$0 |
$2,236,357 |
|
MILCON, Navy |
$5,531,369 |
$4,540,899 |
$4,332,414 |
4,874,699 |
$1,127,281 |
$4,159,399 |
|
MILCON, Air Force |
$2,741,424 |
$3,187,126 |
$3,268,276 |
$3,549,626 |
$487,300 |
$3,347,126 |
|
MILCON, Defense-wide |
$3,161,782 |
$3,733,163 |
$3,500,083 |
$3,601,163 |
$0 |
$3,881,383 |
|
MILCON, Army National Guard |
$620,647 |
$362,129 |
$367,129 |
$456,459 |
$21,000 |
$398,489 |
|
MILCON, Air National Guard |
$295,526 |
$190,792 |
$195,792 |
$307,792 |
$0 |
$290,492 |
|
MILCON, Army Reserve |
$151,076 |
$255,032 |
$265,032 |
$375,682 |
$0 |
$295,032 |
|
MILCON, Navy and Marine Reserve |
$51,291 |
$29,829 |
$67,329 |
$29,829 |
$0 |
$29,829 |
|
MILCON, Air Force Reserve |
$331,572 |
$69,263 |
$50,499 |
$107,663 |
$0 |
$74,663 |
|
NATO Security Investment Program |
$293,434 |
$433,864 |
$433,864 |
$433,864 |
$0 |
293,434 |
|
Family Housing |
$1,970,751 |
$1,983,864 |
$2,013,864 |
$1,983,864 |
$129,567 |
$2,013,864 |
|
Base Realignment and Closure |
$489,174 |
$447,961 |
$547,961 |
$497,961 |
$0 |
$489,174 |
|
Administrative Provisions |
$1,014,179 |
$0 |
$697,000 |
$707,921 |
$0 |
$0 |
|
Total MILCON and Family Housing |
$18,675,000 |
$17,545,079 |
$17,957,000 |
$19,307,000 |
$1,765,148 |
17,509,242 |
Source: P.L. 118-42; President's Budget Request FY2025, Office of the Under Secretary of Defense (Comptroller), Construction Programs (C-1), March 2024; H.R. 8580; and S. 4677; P.L. 118-158; P.L. 119-4; President's Budget Request FY2026, Office of the Under Secretary of Defense (Comptroller), Construction Programs (C-1) June 2025.
Notes: Family Housing budget numbers include Family Housing Construction accounts, Family Housing Operation and Maintenance accounts, the Family Housing Improvement Fund (FHIF), and the Unaccompanied Housing Improvement Fund (UHIF).
The two appropriations acts provided a total of $19.274 billion for DOD MILCON and family housing accounts. Details of the funding levels for selected MILCON and family housing accounts are contained in Table 1.
The Full-Year Continuing Appropriations and Extensions Act did not include an itemized list of project-level appropriations, which is typically included in MILCON-VA legislation and the accompanying joint explanatory statement. The law, instead, provided lump-sum appropriations for military construction accounts. Section 1113 of the law directed DOD to provide Congress with an operating plan to establish a baseline for applications for reprogramming and transfer authorities. On June 3, 2025, DOD released its MILCON operating plan for 2025, which included an itemized list of the military construction projects that DOD intends to carry out for FY2025. The department's plan appears to align with the projects that were authorized in law under Section 4601 of the 'Servicemember Quality of Life Improvement and National Defense Authorization Act for FY2025 (P.L. 118-159). The largest (by dollar value) individual military construction projects for FY2025 are listed in Table 2.
Table 2. Ten Largest MILCON Projects in DOD's FY2025 Military Construction Operating Plan
(in thousands of dollars of budget authority)
|
Location |
Project |
Amount requested |
|
Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam (HI) |
Dry Dock 3 Replacement (Inc) |
$1,199,000 |
|
Portsmouth Naval Shipyard (ME) |
Multi-Mission Drydock #1 Extension (Inc) |
$400,578 |
|
Joint Region Marianas (GU) |
PDI: GDS, EIAMD, Phase 1 (Inc) |
$278,267 |
|
Fort Meade (MD) |
NSAW East Campus Building #5, (Inc) 2 |
$265,000 |
|
Wheeler Army Air Field (HI) |
Aircraft Maintenance Hangar |
$231,000 |
|
Cape Canaveral Space Force Station (FL) |
Engineering Test Facility |
$221,060 |
|
Cherry Point Marine Corps Air Station (NC) |
Aircraft Maintenance Hangar |
$213,520 |
|
F.E. Warren Air Force Base (WY) |
GBSD Consolidated Maintenance Facility |
$208,145 |
|
Marine Corps Base Hawaii (HI) |
Aircraft Hangar & Parking Apron Aircraft Maintenance Hangar |
$203,520 |
|
Naval Base Kitsap—Bangor (WA) |
Launcher Equipment Processing Building |
$200,550 |
Source: Department of Defense Military Construction DD1414 Base for Reprogramming Actions; Division A of P.L. 119-4, Full-Year Continuing Resolution Appropriations Act, 2025, Approved March 15, 2025, Office of the Under Secretary of Defense (Comptroller).
Notes: The "(Inc)" indicator listed with the title or description of some projects indicates that DOD has designated the project as an "incremental" part of a larger, multi-year MILCON project. Acronyms include PDI: Pacific Deterrence Initiative; GDS: Guam Defense System; EIAMD: Enhanced Integrated Air and Missile Defense System; NSAW: National Security Agency, Washington; GBSD: Ground Based Strategic Deterrent.