LegiStorm

Summary:

The Department of Defense (DOD) estimates that through FY2016 Congress has appropriated $1.6 trillion for DOD war-related activities since the terror attacks of September 11, 2001. When combined with an estimated $123.2 billion in related State Department and Foreign Operations appropriations, the DOD, Department of State (DOS), and U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) have received an estimated $1.7 trillion for activities and operations in support of the broad U.S. government response to the 9/11 attacks. Funding for these activities has been largely provided through supplemental appropriation acts or has been designated as an “emergency” or “Overseas Contingency Operation/Global War on Terror” (OCO/GWOT) requirement in annual agency budget requests—or both. Funds designated as such are not subject to procedural limits on discretionary spending in congressional budget resolutions or to the statutory discretionary spending limits established by the Budget Control Act of 2011 (BCA). While there is no overall statutory limit on the amount of emergency or OCO/GWOT-designated spending, both Congress and the President have a fundamental role in determining how much OCO/GWOT and emergency spending is provided each fiscal year. Congress must designate any such funding as OCO/GWOT in statute on an account by account basis. The President is also required to designate it as such after it is appropriated in order for it to be available for expenditure. Definitions of what constitutes emergency or OCO/GWOT activities and expenses have shifted over time, reflecting differing viewpoints about the extent, nature, and duration of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Funding designated OCO/GWOT has also been recently used to fund base budget requirements of the DOD and DOS and to provide funding to prevent or respond to crises abroad, including armed conflict, as well as human-caused and natural disasters. The first use of an OCO/GWOT designation in budgetary law was in the 2011 BCA. Prior to the BCA, the Balanced Budget and Emergency Deficit Control Act of 1985 (BBEDCA) only allowed “emergency” requirements to be excluded from budget control limits. The BCA added the designation “Overseas Contingency Operation/Global War on Terror” to the BBEDCA exemption, thereby providing Congress and the President with an alternate way to exclude funding from the BCA limits without using the “emergency” designation. The FY2017 OCO Request The Bipartisan Budget Act of 2015 (BBA) raised the BCA discretionary spending limits for fiscal year (FY) 2016 and FY2017 for both the defense and nondefense categories, and also specified an expected level for OCO spending for those years. The President’s February 2016 OCO budget request of $58.8 billion for defense activities and $14.9 billion for non-defense OCO matched BBA-directed levels for FY2017. However, the Administration submitted an amendment in November 2016, raising both the defense and non-defense requests by $5.8 billion each to $64.6 billion and $20.7 billion, respectively. The Administration stated that the additional resources are needed to maintain approximately 8,400 troops in Afghanistan and to fund additional troops and requirements in Iraq/Syria. The DOD Comptroller indicated that the majority of the original $58.8 billion in FY2017 OCO request for DOD centers on supporting Operation Freedom’s Sentinel in Afghanistan, Operation Inherent Resolve in Iraq and Syria, and increased efforts to support European allies and deter Russian aggression—all while supporting what is referred to as a “partnership-focused approach to counterterrorism.” However, the President’s FY2017 DOD OCO request also includes $5.1 billion for base budget activities—normal military operations and procurement that could not be funded in the DOD’s base budget due to the BCA statutory limits.The original FY2017 OCO request for the State Department included funding needed to “provide support to, respond to, recover from, or prevent crises abroad, including armed conflict, as well as human-caused and natural disasters.” Specifically, the DOS request included funding to contribute to peacekeeping missions and special political missions, increase efforts to destroy the Islamic State, and sustain security programs and embassy construction at high risk posts. The November 2016 request seeks an additional $5.8 billion for State and USAID to “support the Administration’s counter-ISIL and counterterrorism objectives ... and respond to relief and recovery needs, as well as provide additional humanitarian assistance for areas liberated from ISIL and other unforeseen needs.” FY2017 Congressional Action The House-passed National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for FY2017 provided for an additional $18.0 billion in base budget requirements in the OCO authorization—funding that would be exempt from the spending caps set by the BCA. However, the House and Senate conference agreement on the FY2017 NDAA (P.L. 114-328) authorizes a total of $8.3 billion in OCO funding for base budget requirements ($5.1 billion requested by the Administration and $3.2 billion added by Congress) without an equivalent increase in spending for nondefense programs. The Obama Administration and the minority leadership in both congressional chambers objected to allowing an increase in defense spending by raising the defense cap—or adding OCO spending for defense—without providing a comparable increase for nondefense spending in the overall federal budget. Having not reached agreement on most FY2017 annual appropriations bill before the start of the fiscal year, Congress enacted two continuing resolutions to provide temporary funding for federal programs. The first, the Continuing Appropriations and Military Construction, Veterans Affairs, and Related Agencies Appropriation Act, 2017, and Zika Response and Preparedness Act (H.R. 5325/P.L. 114-223), provided budget authority through December 9, 2016, for programs and activities for which regular appropriations bills for FY2017 had not been enacted. The second, the Further Continuing and Security Assistance Appropriations Act, 2017 (H.R. 2028/P.L. 114-254) was enacted December 12, 2016. Division A of H.R. 2028 extends H.R. 5323 through April 28, 2017, and provides DOD and State/USAID OCO budget authority at a rate of operations equivalent to the FY2016 appropriated level. Division B of H.R. 2028 is a supplemental security assistance appropriations bill, providing an additional $5.8 billion for DOD and $4.3 billion for DOS, available through September 30, 2017, unless otherwise specified. For additional information on related FY2017 budget issues see CRS Report R44428, The Federal Budget: Overview and Issues for FY2017 and Beyond, by Grant A. Driessen, CRS Report R44454, Defense: FY2017 Budget Request, Authorization, and Appropriations, by Pat Towell and Lynn M. Williams, CRS Report R44636, FY2017 Defense Spending Under an Interim Continuing Resolution (CR): In Brief, by Lynn M. Williams and Sean I. Mills, and CRS Report R44391, State, Foreign Operations and Related Programs: FY2017 Budget and Appropriations, by Susan B. Epstein, Marian L. Lawson, and Cory R. Gill.