CRS INSIGHT Prepared for Members and Committees of Congress

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FY2025 Military Construction Appropriations: A Summary

August 20, 2024

The Biden Administration’s fiscal year 2025 (FY2025) budget submission to Congress requested $17.545 billion for U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) military construction (MILCON) and family housing programs. The funding requested for FY2025 was 6.1% percent less than the $18.675 billion enacted for MILCON and family housing in FY2024 in Division A of P.L. 118-42.

On May 28, 2024, the House Appropriations Committee reported a Military Construction, Veterans Affairs, and Related Agencies Appropriation Act, 2025, H.R. 8580 (H.Rept. 118-528). On June 5, 2024, the House passed H.R. 8580, which would provide $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). The reported bill would provide $19.307 billion for DOD MILCON and family housing accounts, 10.0% more than the requested amount.

Details of the funding levels for selected MILCON and family housing accounts are contained in Table 1.

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Table 1. FY2024 MILCON-VA Appropriations for Selected Military Construction Accounts

(in thousands of dollars of discretionary budget authority)

Account FY2024 Enacted

FY2025 President’s

Budget Request House-passed

Senate

Appropriations

Committee-

reported

Military Construction, Army

$2,022,775 $2,311,157 $2,217,757 $2,380,477

Military Construction, Navy

$5,531,369 $4,540,899 $4,332,414 4,874,699

Military Construction, Air Force

$2,741,424 $3,187,126 $3,268,276 $3,549,626

Military Construction, Defense-wide

$3,161,782 $3,733,163 $3,500,083 $3,601,163

Military Construction, Army National Guard

$620,647 $362,129 $367,129 $456,459

Military Construction, Air National Guard

$295,526 $190,792 $195,792 $307,792

Military Construction, Army Reserve

$151,076 $255,032 $265,032 $375,682

Military Construction, Navy and Marine Reserve

$51,291 $29,829 $67,329 $29,829

Military Construction, Air Force Reserve

$331,572 $69,263 $50,499 $107,663

NATO Security Investment Program

$293,434 $433,864 $433,864 $433,864

Family Housing $1,970,751 $1,983,864 $2,013,864 $1,983,864

Base Realignment and Closure

$489,174 $447,961 $547,961 $497,961

Administrative Provisions

$1,014,179 $0 $697,000 $707,921

Total Division B, Military Construction

$18,675,000 $17,545,079 $17,957,000 $19,307,000

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. 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).

President’s Budget Request

The Biden Administration’s FY2025 budget requested funding for 150 major military construction projects. The 10 biggest projects, in terms of dollar value, are listed in Table 2.

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Table 2. T en Largest MILCON Projects in the FY2025 President’s Budget Request

(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 PDI: GDS, EIAMD, Ph1 (Inc) $278,267

Fort Meade (MD) NSAW East Campus Building #5, INC 2 $265,000

Malmstrom Air Force Base (MT) Weapons Storage & Maintenance Fac Inc $238,000

Wheeler Army Air Field (HI) Aircraft Maintenance Hangar $231,000

Fort Belvoir (VA) Defense Health Headquarters $225,000

Cape Canaveral Space Force Station (FL)

Engineering Test Facility $221,060

Cherry Point Marine Corps Air Station (NC)

Aircraft Maintenance Hangar $213,520

Marine Corps Base Hawaii (HI) Aircraft Hangar & Parking Apron $203,520

Source: Construction Programs (C-1), Department of Defense Budget Fiscal Year 2025 March 2024 Office of the Under Secretary of Defense (Comptroller). Notes: The table shows the 10 largest MILCON projects in the President’s Budget Request, in terms of dollar value. 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.

H.R. 8580

H.R. 8580, as passed by the House, would revise funding levels for certain MILCON projects requested by the Administration. Table 3 lists the largest proposed adjustments in terms of dollar value. For example, the revisions include providing half of the amounts DOD requested for an aircraft maintenance hangar for Wheeler Army Air Field in Hawaii and an aircraft maintenance hangar for Marine Corps Air Station Cherry Point in North Carolina. In both instances, the reductions are examples of incremental funding, i.e., when Congress provides a portion of the requested amount for a particular project. By incrementally funding certain projects, Congress allows DOD to initiate the construction project but would likely oblige DOD to request additional funding in a future budget cycle to complete the project. For the projects at Wheeler Army Air Field and at Marine Corps Air Station Cherry Point, DOD budget request documents included planned construction schedules indicating that construction of the project would take several years and DOD intends to outlay only an incremental portion of the project’s funding during FY2025. The construction schedules indicate that DOD does not foresee a need to outlay the entire portion of the projects’ costs until FY2026 or beyond.

The House-passed bill would provide incremental funding for 11 projects. The Biden Administration opposed incremental funding of MILCON projects. The House report (H.Rept. 118-528) accompanying the legislation states: “In general, the Committee supports full funding for military construction projects if they are executable. However, it continues to be the practice of the Committee to provide incremental funding for certain large projects to enable the Services to more efficiently allocate military construction dollars among projects that can be executed in the year of appropriation.”

H.R. 8580 as passed by the House would provide funding for 23 unrequested Community Project Funding items, totaling $547 million.

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Administrative provisions in H.R. 8580 would provide additional funding for planning and design of DOD laboratories, Air Force expenses incurred as a result of natural disasters, planning and design of child development centers, and planning and design of barracks.

Table 3. Proposed Funding for Selected Military Construction Projects in H.R. 8580

(in thousands of dollars of budget authority)

Location Project Title

Requested

Amount H.R. 8580

Wheeler Army Air Field (HI) Aircraft Maintenance Hangar $231,000 $115,500

Marine Corps Air Station Cherry Point (NC)

Aircraft Maintenance Hangar $213,520 $106,760

Naval Base Kitsap (WA) Launcher Equipment Processing Building $200,550 $100,275

Cape Canaveral SFS (FL) Engineering Test Facility $221,060 $139,130

Redstone Arsenal (AL) Ground Test Facility $80000 $0

Camp Butler (Japan) Kubasaki High School $160,000 $80,000

RAF Lakenheath (UK) Lakenheath High School $153,000 $73,000

F.E. Warren (WY) GBSD Consolidated Maintenance Facility $194,000 $115,000

Lackland Air Force Base (TX) Military Training Classrooms/Dining Facility $0 $70,000

Ebbing Air National Guard Base (AR) Academic Training Center $0 $70,000

Naval Air Station Key West (FL) Joint Interagency Task Force-South Command and Control Facility

$0 $70,000

Source: CRS analysis of H.R. 8580 and Construction Programs (C-1), Department of Defense Budget Fiscal Year 2025 March 2024 Office of the Under Secretary of Defense (Comptroller). A list of project line items and the changes made in H.R. 8580 are found in the Appropriations Committee’s report, H.Rept. 118-528, beginning on p. 88. Notes: The table shows the 11 MILCON projects in H.R. 8580 with the largest proposed difference in funding compared to the President’s Budget request. The “(Inc)” indicator listed with the title or description of some projects denotes the DOD has designated the project as an “incremental” part of a larger, multi-year MILCON project.

S. 4677

S. 4677, as reported by the Senate Appropriations Committee, would revise funding levels for certain MILCON projects requested in the President’s budget. Table 4 lists the largest proposed adjustments in terms of dollar value. The legislation includes funding for projects that DOD did not include in its request, for example two projects for water treatment plants at Marine Corps Air Station Yuma in Arizona and Joint Base Pearl Harbor in Hawaii. In both instances, the projects were specifically requested for inclusion in the bill by the Senators representing those states.

Administrative provisions in the bill would provide additional funding for military installation resilience projects, as well as design and authorized construction of projects at foreign military training sites.

The Committee-reported S. 4677 recommends funding for 106 unrequested Congressionally Directed Spending items, totaling $1.264 billion.

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Table 4. Proposed Funding for Selected Military Construction Projects in S. 4677

(in thousands of dollars of budget authority)

Location Project Title

Requested

Amount S. 1677

Fort Johnson (LA) Barracks $117,000 $0

Marine Corps Air Station Yuma (AZ) Water Treatment Plant $0 $90,000

Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam (HI) Water Treatment Plant $0 $90,000

Redstone Arsenal (AL) Ground Test Facility Infrastructure (INC) $80,000 0

Fort Knox (KY) Aviation Support Facility $0 $75,000

Offutt Air Force Base (NE) Survivable Airborne Operations Center: Design $0 $70,000

Marine Corps Air Station Beaufort (SC) Aircraft Maintenance Hangar: Cost to Complete $0 $61,700

Buckley Space Force Base (CO) Power Independence $0 $60,000

Naval Base Coronado (CA) SOF Operations Support Facility PH 2 $51,000 0

Naval Surface Warfare Center Indian Head (MD) Contained Burn Facility $0 $50,000

Bangor International Airport (ME) Fuel Cell Hangar $0 $50,000

Source: CRS analysis of S. 4677 and Construction Programs (C-1), Department of Defense Budget Fiscal Year 2024, March 2023, Office of the Under Secretary of Defense (Comptroller). A list of project line items and the changes made in S. 4677 are found in the Appropriations Committee’s report, S.Rept. 118-191 p. 79. Notes: The table shows the 11 MILCON projects in S. 4677 with the largest proposed change in funding compared to the President’s Budget request. The “(Inc)” indicator listed with the title or description of some projects denotes the project as an “incremental” part of a larger, potentially multi-year MILCON project.

Author Information

Andrew Tilghman Analyst in U.S. Defense Infrastructure Policy

Disclaimer

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