FY2018 Defense Budget Request: The Basics (CRS Report for Congress)
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| Release Date |
June 9, 2017 |
| Report Number |
R44866 |
| Report Type |
Report |
| Authors |
Lynn M. Williams, Coordinator; Pat Towell |
| Source Agency |
Congressional Research Service |
Summary:
On May 23, 2017 the Trump Administration released its federal budget request for fiscal year
(FY) 2018. The Administration proposed a total budget of $677.1 billion for national defenserelated
activities of the federal government (budget function 050). Of the national defense total,
$667.6 billion is discretionary spending provided, for the most part, by the annual appropriations
bill drafted by the Appropriations Committees of the House and Senate.1 The remaining $9.6
billion is mandatory spending, that is, spending for entitlement programs and certain other
payments. Mandatory spending is generally governed by statutory criteria and it is not provided
by annual appropriation acts.2
As has been typical in recent years, about 95% of that total ($646.9 billion) is for military
activities of the Department of Defense (DOD)—referred to as subfunction 051. The balance of
the function 050 request comprises $21.8 billion for defense-related atomic energy-defense
activities of the Department of Energy (designated subfunction 053) and $8.4 billion for defenserelated
activities of other agencies (designated subfunction 054) of which about two-thirds is
allocated to the Federal Bureau of Investigation. See Figure 1.
