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June 29, 2018
FY2019 National Defense Authorization Act: An Overview of
Senate Action
The FY2019 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA)
approved by the Senate on June 18, 2018, would authorize
discretionary appropriations totaling $708.4 billion for
national defense-related activities of the Department of
Defense (DOD) and other agencies.
The bill (H.R. 5515) would authorize $16.3 billion (2.4%)
more than the amount enacted in the FY2018 NDAA (P.L.
115-91) and $0.3 billion more than the Administration
requested for such programs in FY2019 (see Table 1).
Of the total, the bill would authorize $639.9 billion for so-
called base budget activities—activities DOD and other
national defense-related agencies would pursue even if U.S.
forces were not engaged in operations in Afghanistan, Iraq,
Syria, and elsewhere. The bill would also authorize
additional DOD appropriations totaling $68.5 billion—to be
designated as funding for Overseas Contingency
Operations (OCO)—that would cover the incremental cost
of those operations in the Middle East as well as other costs
Congress and the President agree to designate as OCO.
The Senate Armed Services Committee reported the
legislation (S. 2987) on June 5. The Senate took up and
considered the House-passed NDAA (H.R. 5515) as a
vehicle for its version, which was approved 85-10.
Consistent with Revised Spending Cap
The legislation would authorize a level of funding that is
generally consistent with the spending limits (or caps) on
national defense programs originally established by the
Budget Control Act of 2011 (BCA; P.L. 112-25) and
amended most recently by the Bipartisan Budget Act of
2018 (BBA; P.L. 115-123). The cap applies to discretionary
base budget appropriations for military programs of DOD,
defense-related atomic energy programs of the Energy
Department, and other defense-related programs. The
FY2019 defense spending cap is $647 billion. The figure
includes programs outside the scope of the NDAA and for
which the Administration requested approximately $8
billion. Thus, the portion of the cap applicable to spending
authorized by the NDAA is approximately $639 billion.
Selected Highlights
Smaller End-Strength Increase. The bill would
authorize a $3.1 billion reduction to DOD’s base-budget
for military personnel appropriations from the
President’s request. Almost $1 billion of the total would
come from decreasing the end-strength request; the bill
would authorize an active-duty force of 1.3 million
personnel, an increase of almost 7,000 from the FY2018
authorized level but a decrease of more than 8,600 from
the request. Another $1.9 billion would come from
underutilized military pay accounts.
Investment Boost. The bill would authorize an increase
in DOD appropriations (base and OCO) for procurement
($1.6 billion) and for research, development, test, and
evaluation ($1.2 billion) over the President’s request.
Military Construction. The bill would authorize $780
million for military construction projects not included in
the President’s request.
Table 1. National Defense Authorizations
(in billions of dollars of discretionary budget authority)
National Defense Budget
(Budget Sub-function)
FY2018 NDAA
(P.L. 115-91)
$ Difference
(FY2018/
FY2019 Senate-
Passed)
% Difference
(FY2018/
FY2019 Senate-
passed)
Atomic Energy Defense
Activities (053)
Defense-Related Activities (054)
Overseas Contingency
Operations (OCO)
Sources: FY2018 data from H.Rept. 115-404, Conference Report to Accompany the National Defense Authorization Act for FY2018 (H.R. 2810), at
https://www.congress.gov/115/crpt/hrpt404/CRPT-115hrpt404.pdf; FY2019 data from Senate-passed H.R. 5515, National Defense Authorization
Act for Fiscal Year 2019, at https://www.congress.gov/bill/115th-congress/house-bill/5515/text, Senate Armed Services Committee.
Notes: Numbers may not sum due to rounding.
a. The Senate approved an amendment authorizing $500.6 million for the Maritime Administration’s Maritime Security Program (MSP).
