LegiStorm

Summary:

Congressional action on DOD's FY2014 budget was hobbled by the prevailing uncertainty over the entire federal budget that dissipated only in mid-December, when Congress passed and the President signed H.J.Res. 59, which set binding caps on discretionary spending for defense and nondefense programs in FY2014. The bill's defense cap, while about $31 billion below the amount requested for defense programs by President Obama, was more than $20 billion higher than the FY2014 defense cap that had been set by the Budget Control Act (BCA) of 2011 (P.L. 112-25). President Obama's FY2014 base budget request of $552.0 billion in discretionary budget authority for the Department of Defense (DOD) and defense-related programs of other agencies (excluding war costs), exceeded by $53.9 billion the legally binding cap on defense funding for FY2014 that was enacted in 2011 as part of the BCA. Similarly, in their initial actions on the annual defense funding bills for FY2014, the House and the Armed Services and Appropriations Committees of the Senate approved defense funding totals (excluding war costs) that were very close to President Obama's so-called "base budget" (i.e., nonwar) request, regardless of the BCA cap. For DOD's base budget, both the version of the FY2014 National Defense Authorization Act passed by the House (H.R. 1960) and the version reported by the Senate Armed Services Committee (S. 1197) also exceeded the BCA cap, differing from the President's request by less than $50 million. For war-related operations ("overseas contingency operations" or OCO), the Senate committee version of the authorization bill made few changes to the Administration's $80.7 billion request, while the House-passed bill added $5.4 billion. Similarly, the versions of the FY2014 DOD Appropriations Bill (H.R. 2397) passed by the House and reported by the Senate Appropriations Committee—in conjunction with funding for military construction and for defense-related spending in other agencies in other appropriations bills passed by the House and reported by the Senate committee—would result in total DOD base budget appropriations that would exceed the BCA defense limit for FY2014 by nearly as much as President Obama's initial request. Because legislation to fund the federal government in FY2014 had not been enacted prior to the start of the fiscal year on October 1, 2013, DOD, like most other agencies, was then subject to a lapse in appropriations during which agencies are generally required to shut down. Under an OMB-defined exception for "national security activities," all active-duty military personnel and many DOD civilian employees remained on their jobs through October 17, 2013, when H.J.Res. 59, the FY2014 Continuing Resolution (P.L. 113-46) was enacted, allowing DOD and all other federal agencies to resume their normal operations through January 15, 2014. The resolution set funding at an annualized level equal to that provided by the FY2013 Consolidated and Further Continuing Appropriations Act (P.L. 113-6) after reductions made on March 15, 2013, by the BCA-mandated sequestration process. Excluding war costs, the FY2014 CR funds DOD and defense-related programs of other agencies (which comprise the "National Defense" budget function) at an annual budget of $518 billion for about one-quarter of the year . That annual total amounts to a $34 billion or 6.2% decrease from the President's request for the FY2014 DOD base budget. However, it would exceed the BCA cap on National Defense spending in FY2014 by $21 billion (or about 4%). If the BCA had not been amended, Congress would have had to cut the Administration's National Defense request by $53.9 billion (about 9.8%) to meet the BCA cap of $498.1 billion. But the FY2014 Continuing Resolution (H.J.Res. 59), which President Obama signed into law on December 26, 2013, raised the BCA caps on defense and nondefense discretionary spending for FY2014 and FY2015 in addition to funding the operations of the federal government through January 15, 2014. For National Defense, the new FY2014 budget limit is $520 billion rather than the original BCA limit of $498 billion. DOD's share of this new, higher total amounts to about $497 billion rather than $476 billion DOD would have been allowed under the original BCA cap. If Congress appropriates to these new limits, there would no longer be a need for an additional $20 billion sequester in January 2014. For FY2015, the new limit, higher limits set by H.R. 59 (compared with the original BCA caps) are $521 billion rather $512 billion for National Defense and $498 billion rather than $489 billion for DOD. In each case, the FY2015 spending limit is increased by $9 billion over the original BCA limits. The spending cap in FY2015 thus would be $1 billion above the FY2014 level. In subsequent years, the original BCA spending limits would remain in force, rising by FY2021 to $590 billion for National Defense and $564 billion for DOD in nominal dollars. In sum, the effect of the Murray-Ryan budget agreement embodied in H.J.Res. 59 is to set a cumulative limit for National Defense spending in FY2012-FY2021 totaling $5.447 trillion, which is $32 billion higher than the original BCA limit for that period. For DOD, the spending caps would total $5.202 trillion rather than $5.176 trillion, a $30 billion increase over the current limit. The FY2014 Administration's DOD budget plan for that decade totals $5.533 trillion, exceeding the proposed new limits by $326 billion or 6%. On December 26, 2013, the President signed into law H.R. 3304, a compromise version of the FY2014 NDAA. It authorizes appropriation of nearly the amount the Administration originally requested for the DOD base budget, taking no account of the new BCA defense spending limit, which it would exceed by more than $30 billion. Like the earlier versions of the NDAA passed by the House and reported by the Senate committee, H.R. 3304 also includes provisions bearing on several controversial policy issues including the armed services' handling of sexual assault cases and the treatment of detainees currently held at the U.S. naval base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. DOD and the House and Senate Appropriations Committees are drafting FY2014 appropriations bills that would comply with the new spending caps by cutting about $32 billion from the Administration's FY2014 DOD budget request. Pending enactment of those bills, funding for DOD (and all other federal agencies) currently is slated to expire on January 15, 2014.