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May 9, 2018
The FY2019 Defense Budget Request: An Overview
The President’s FY2019 budget request includes $726.8
billion for national defense, a major function of the federal
budget that includes funding primarily for Department of
Defense (DOD) programs but also for defense-related
activities administered by other federal agencies.
National defense is one of 20 major functions used by the
Office of Management and Budget (OMB) to organize
budget data―and the largest in terms of discretionary
spending. The national defense budget function (identified
by the numerical notation 050) comprises three
subfunctions: DOD–Military (051); atomic energy defense
activities primarily of the Department of Energy (DOE)
(053); and other defense-related activities (054), such as
Federal Bureau of Investigation counterintelligence
activities.
National Defense Budget
The $726.8 billion national defense budget request includes
$716.0 billion in discretionary spending and $10.8 billion in
mandatory spending (see Figure 1). The discretionary
spending is, for the most part, provided by the annual
appropriations bill drafted by the House and Senate
Appropriations Committees.
The $716.0 billion requested for national defense
discretionary spending breaks down as follows:
$686.1 billion for DOD (96% of the total);
$21.9 billion for atomic energy activities (3%); and
$8.0 billion for other defense-related activities (1%).
Of the total, $708.1 billion falls under the jurisdiction of the
House and Senate Armed Services Committees and is
subject to authorization by the annual National Defense
Authorization Act (NDAA). The remaining $7.9 billion
falls under the jurisdiction of other congressional
committees.
In Line with Revised Budget Cap
The President’s budget request conforms to the spending
limits (or caps) established by the Budget Control Act of
2011 (BCA; P.L. 112-25) and amended by the Bipartisan
Budget Act of 2018 (BBA of 2018; P.L. 115-123).
The request for national defense discretionary spending
includes $647 billion in base budget spending and $69
billion in funding for Overseas Contingency Operations
(OCO). Because the caps do not apply to spending that is
designated for OCO or for emergency purposes, the request
is in line with the limits enacted February 9, 2018, under
the BBA of 2018.
The legislation increased the defense discretionary spending
cap to $647 billion in FY2019, an increase of $85 billion, or
15%, over the previous $562 billion cap.
It did not change the spending limits for FY2020 and
FY2021.
Defense Secretary James Mattis said if Congress allows
these caps to take effect, the newly crafted National
Defense Strategy, which calls for the United States to
bolster its competitive military advantage, “is not
sustainable. The strategy is designed to protect America and
our interests. I cannot provide you the same strategy. I
would have to go back and rewrite it. There would be
reductions in what we are able to do.”
DOD Budget
Table 1. FY2019 DOD Budget Request by Title and
Funding Type
(in billions of dollars)
Sources: Department of Defense, Defense Budget Overview, Table A-
4: DOD Base Budget by Appropriation Title, published February 12,
2018; Office of Management and Budget, FY2019 Budget Amendments,
Attachment, at https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/
2018/04/FY_2019_Budget_Amendment_Package.pdf#page=114;
Congressional Budget Office scoring tables for the Consolidated
Appropriations Act, 2018 (P.L. 115-141), continuing appropriations
(P.L. 115-96), and Bipartisan Budget Act of 2018 (P.L. 115-123).
Notes: 2019 figures from the DOD and OMB sources cited above;
2018 figures based on CBO scoring tables for P.L. 115-141 and CRS
analysis of P.L. 115-96 and P.L. 115-123.
