AOC CAPITOL HILL UPDATE: Congress
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Congress returned from August recess last week with a daunting legislative calendar to the end of the year. There are only 48 session days left in the year for Congress to complete its legislative business with the 2018 election cycle looming next year. The FY 18 budget, including both the defense authorization and appropriations are taking center stage, but a host of non-defense related legislative initiatives may affect or threaten consensus on an overall budget agreement.
The first development on the budget front took place last week when a deal was reached for a short-term Continuing Resolution (CR) that also included a limited increase in the debt ceiling and disaster relief funding. The measure passed with relative ease because the alternative was an intractable budget situation with the end of the current fiscal year looming on September 30. Unfortunately, the "solution" arguably creates more problems than it solves.
The short-term CR keeps the government operating into FY 18 at FY 17 levels. As House Armed Services Committee Chairman Mac Thornberry noted in a statement opposing the CR package, "Continuing resolutions do enormous, lasting damage to the American military. We are witnessing an alarming increase in accidents, growing evidence of a force under stress, and an eroding technological position when compared with our adversaries. Not only does this bill fail to remedy those problems, it makes them worse." Specifically, according to Bloomberg Government, the CR prevents about $35 billion in new defense spending from going into effect. The immediate ripple effects remain unclear, but the CR continues a trend of governing by crisis that creates uncertainty for DoD and the defense industrial base. With this in mind, the AOC cosigned a Defense-related Associations (DRA) letter that calls on Congress to act quickly to the complete FY 2018 defense authorization and appropriations acts in a timely manner.
Senate Focuses on NDAA
On the authorization front, the Senate is currently considering its version of the FY 18 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) and should complete its work by the end of the week. A Conference Committee timeline to reconcile the House and Senate NDAAs remains uncertain, but a final agreement will likely arrive in December. Specifically, the Senate bill provides $610.9 billion for the Pentagon, including $60.2 billion in Overseas Contingency Operations (OCO). The base amount exceeds the House NDAA, but also includes less base funding in the OCO account.
Additionally, the Senate NDAA contains several provisions, "Items of Special Interest," relevant to the AOC community. Most notably is language that splits into two and reorganizes the current office of the Chief Information Officer into the Chief Management Officer (CMO) and the Chief Information Warfare Officer (CIWO). There are also several provisions relating to Directed Energy, including DE Weapon System Prototyping and Demonstration Program (p. 45) and a $200 million increase in the Defense Technology Offset account for DE initiatives (p. 74).
There are significant differences in policy, funding, and reform between the House and Senate versions of the NDAA. The one attribute they have in common is that they both significantly exceed the Budget Control Act Cap of $549 billion. While the BCA only has affect on appropriations, if the authorization exceeds that cap and no agreement is reached on appropriations, then the authorization us empty the Pentagon can only spend the money they receive, which right now is capped at $549 billion for FY 18. Where the authorization levels in the House and Senate bills are useful is showing the gap between what the military needs and the limits the current BCA establishes.
Appropriations Update
The House is continuing to move forward on the appropriations front. This week the reported another "minibus"-like appropriations bill, H.R. 3354, the Make America Secure and Prosperous Appropriations Act, which will include the eight remaining appropriations measures that were not included in the previous minibus appropriations bill, H.R. 3219, which the House passed in July. However, the House will roll the two bills together into H.R. 3354, creating a single massive appropriations measure that funds the entire government. The Senate Appropriations Committee (SAC) has reported eight (8) appropriations bills, but none have been brought to the floor for consideration by the full Senate. While the SAC must still consider Defense, Financial Services, Interior, and Homeland Security appropriations measures, reports indicate that the Senate defense appropriations bill will come in around $551 billion, just above or near the BCA cap. The House version was set at $584.2 billion, exceeding the BCA cap by $35 billion.
For more information on the congressional budget process, please contact Ken Miller, AOC Director of Advocacy and Outreach, at kmiller@crows.org.
The first development on the budget front took place last week when a deal was reached for a short-term Continuing Resolution (CR) that also included a limited increase in the debt ceiling and disaster relief funding. The measure passed with relative ease because the alternative was an intractable budget situation with the end of the current fiscal year looming on September 30. Unfortunately, the "solution" arguably creates more problems than it solves.
The short-term CR keeps the government operating into FY 18 at FY 17 levels. As House Armed Services Committee Chairman Mac Thornberry noted in a statement opposing the CR package, "Continuing resolutions do enormous, lasting damage to the American military. We are witnessing an alarming increase in accidents, growing evidence of a force under stress, and an eroding technological position when compared with our adversaries. Not only does this bill fail to remedy those problems, it makes them worse." Specifically, according to Bloomberg Government, the CR prevents about $35 billion in new defense spending from going into effect. The immediate ripple effects remain unclear, but the CR continues a trend of governing by crisis that creates uncertainty for DoD and the defense industrial base. With this in mind, the AOC cosigned a Defense-related Associations (DRA) letter that calls on Congress to act quickly to the complete FY 2018 defense authorization and appropriations acts in a timely manner.
Senate Focuses on NDAA
On the authorization front, the Senate is currently considering its version of the FY 18 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) and should complete its work by the end of the week. A Conference Committee timeline to reconcile the House and Senate NDAAs remains uncertain, but a final agreement will likely arrive in December. Specifically, the Senate bill provides $610.9 billion for the Pentagon, including $60.2 billion in Overseas Contingency Operations (OCO). The base amount exceeds the House NDAA, but also includes less base funding in the OCO account.
Summary of Major Defense Budget Categories
| Category |
Budget Request |
House NDAA |
Senate NDAA |
| Total (base) |
$574.6 |
$592.8 |
$610.9 |
| Procurement |
$113.98 |
$127.9 |
$140.3 |
| R&D | $82.7 |
$84.1 |
$86 |
| O&M | $188.6 | $187.1 | $192.04 |
| OCO |
$65 |
$74.6 | $60.2 |
Additionally, the Senate NDAA contains several provisions, "Items of Special Interest," relevant to the AOC community. Most notably is language that splits into two and reorganizes the current office of the Chief Information Officer into the Chief Management Officer (CMO) and the Chief Information Warfare Officer (CIWO). There are also several provisions relating to Directed Energy, including DE Weapon System Prototyping and Demonstration Program (p. 45) and a $200 million increase in the Defense Technology Offset account for DE initiatives (p. 74).
There are significant differences in policy, funding, and reform between the House and Senate versions of the NDAA. The one attribute they have in common is that they both significantly exceed the Budget Control Act Cap of $549 billion. While the BCA only has affect on appropriations, if the authorization exceeds that cap and no agreement is reached on appropriations, then the authorization us empty the Pentagon can only spend the money they receive, which right now is capped at $549 billion for FY 18. Where the authorization levels in the House and Senate bills are useful is showing the gap between what the military needs and the limits the current BCA establishes.
Appropriations Update
The House is continuing to move forward on the appropriations front. This week the reported another "minibus"-like appropriations bill, H.R. 3354, the Make America Secure and Prosperous Appropriations Act, which will include the eight remaining appropriations measures that were not included in the previous minibus appropriations bill, H.R. 3219, which the House passed in July. However, the House will roll the two bills together into H.R. 3354, creating a single massive appropriations measure that funds the entire government. The Senate Appropriations Committee (SAC) has reported eight (8) appropriations bills, but none have been brought to the floor for consideration by the full Senate. While the SAC must still consider Defense, Financial Services, Interior, and Homeland Security appropriations measures, reports indicate that the Senate defense appropriations bill will come in around $551 billion, just above or near the BCA cap. The House version was set at $584.2 billion, exceeding the BCA cap by $35 billion.
For more information on the congressional budget process, please contact Ken Miller, AOC Director of Advocacy and Outreach, at kmiller@crows.org.
