July 27, 2018
FY2019 Defense Appropriations Bill: An Overview of S. 3159, as
Reported
The FY2019 Defense Appropriations Bill approved by the
Senate Appropriations Committee on June 28 would
appropriate $668 billion for the Department of Defense
(DOD). This amount excludes appropriations for military
facility construction and family housing, which are
provided in a separate appropriations bill.
As reported by the committee, the Department of Defense
Appropriations Act, 2019 (S. 3159) would appropriate
$16.1 billion more than the amount enacted in the FY2018
bill (Division C of P.L. 115-141) and other appropriations
(an increase of approximately 2.5%), and $0.4 billion less
than the Administration requested for such programs in
FY2019 (see Table 1).
S. 3159 would appropriate $600.1 billion for DOD’s base
budget—activities the department would pursue even if
U.S. forces were not engaged in operations in Afghanistan,
Iraq, Syria, and elsewhere. The bill would appropriate $67.9
billion for Overseas Contingency Operations (OCO) to
cover the incremental cost of ongoing operations in the
Middle East and elsewhere, as well as other requirements.
The bill would appropriate a level of funding consistent
with the cap on national defense discretionary budget
authority established by the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2018
(P.L. 115-123). (See CRS Report R44039, The Defense
Budget and the Budget Control Act: Frequently Asked
Questions, by Brendan W. McGarry.)
While the total appropriations in S. 3159 would nearly
equal the President’s budget request, the Senate bill would
provide additional funding for a number of programs—with
slightly more offsets to other programs. In a report
accompanying the legislation (S.Rept. 115-290), the
committee described its recommended changes as the:
“… elimination of funds requested for programs which are
lower priority, duplicative, or not supported by firm
requirements in out-year development or procurement
appropriations; deletion of excess funds based on program
delays or slow execution; addition of funds to reflect
congressional priorities and to rectify shortfalls in the budget
estimate; and implementation of recommendations in the
National Defense Authorization Act.”
Table 1. FY2019 Defense Appropriations: Senate Appropriations Committee-Reported S. 3159
amounts in billions of dollars of discretionary budget authority (numbers may not sum due to rounding)
Source: S.Rept. 115-290.
Notes: The regular FY2018 defense appropriations bill was enacted as Division C of the FY2018 Consolidated Appropriations Act (P.L. 115-
141). An additional $4.5 billion for defense was appropriated as a part of the third FY2018 continuing resolution (P.L. 115-96). These funds,
designated as emergency spending, were primarily allocated to accelerate missile defense improvements and to repair two Pacific Fleet
destroyers damaged in collisions in 2017. These figures do not include other FY2018 appropriations for DOD accounts: $434 million to repair
hurricane damage, designated as emergency funding, appropriated as part of the fifth continuing resolution (P.L. 115-123); and $8.1 billion in
accrual payments to fund the TRICARE for Life program of medical insurance for military retirees, funding which is appropriated automatically
as a matter of permanent law (10 U.S.C. 1111-1117).
