FY2024 NDAA: Status of Legislative Activity

By law (31 U.S.C. §1105(a)), the President is to send the annual federal budget request to Congress by the first Monday in February. In practice, Presidents sometimes send it later. On March 9, 2023, President Joseph R. Biden submitted initial documentation supporting the FY2024 budget request, including proposed funding for the U.S. Department of Defense (DOD), nuclear weapons programs of the U.S. Department of Energy, and other national defense-related activities. The National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) typically sets policy and authorizes appropriations for the vast majority of these activities. This product provides the status of congressional activity on the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2024 (FY2024 NDAA; H.R. 2670; S. 2226; P.L. 118-31), which became law on December 22, 2023.

In the House, on June 12, 2023, leaders of the seven subcommittees of the House Armed Services Committee (HASC) released draft legislative proposals (known as marks) for matters in the FY2024 NDAA under their respective jurisdictions. On the same day, Representative Mike Rogers, Chair of the HASC, released his draft legislative proposal (i.e., Chairman's mark) for portions of the bill not in the subcommittee marks. On June 13-14, the HASC subcommittees considered and reported their marks to the full committee. On June 21, the HASC considered amendments to the subcommittee marks and Chairman's mark before voting 58-1 to order the legislation reported to the House with an amendment in the nature of a substitute, reflecting the product of the committee markup. On June 30, the committee reported the bill, H.R. 2670, and filed its accompanying report, H.Rept. 118-125. On July 11-12, the House Rules Committee met to report an initial structured rule, H.Res. 582, for the House to consider H.R. 2670; on July 13, the committee reported a second structured rule, H.Res. 583. On July 12-14, the House considered amendments to the legislation. On July 14, the House passed the measure, as amended, by a vote of 219-210.

In the Senate, on June 20-21, 2023, the seven subcommittees of the Senate Armed Services Committee (SASC) marked up draft legislative proposals with recommendations for matters in the FY2024 NDAA under their respective jurisdictions. One of the markups was held in an open session (Subcommittee on Personnel), and six were held in closed sessions. On June 21-22, the full committee considered the legislation in closed sessions. On June 23, Senators Jack Reed and Roger Wicker, Chair and Ranking Member, respectively, of SASC, announced the committee voted 24-1 to order reported an original bill reflecting the product of the committee markup. On July 11, S. 2226 was reported to the Senate; on July 12, the accompanying report, S.Rept. 118-58, was filed. On July 19, the Senate began considering S. 2226, to which Senator Chuck Schumer, the Senate Majority Leader, then offered (for Senator Reed) a complete substitute amendment (S.Amdt. 935) based on the text of S. 2226 and additional provisions. Amendments to the substitute were considered and adopted. On July 27, the Senate passed the measure, as amended, by a vote of 86-11. Pursuant to a unanimous consent agreement, immediately after passage of the bill, the Senate took up H.R. 2670 and agreed to an amendment consisting of the text of the just-passed S. 2226, and passed H.R. 2670 with that amendment.

Unlike for the FY2022 and FY2023 bills, the House and Senate agreed to convene a conference committee to reconcile the two versions of the FY2024 NDAA. On December 6, 2023, the conferees filed a conference report, H.Rept. 118-301, containing the text of the negotiated bill and the accompanying joint explanatory statement of the committee of conference. On December 12, the Senate voted 85-15 to invoke cloture on the conference report, and then on December 13, the Senate voted 87-13 to agree to the conference report. On December 14, the House considered the conference report under its suspension of the rules procedures and voted 310-118 to agree to the conference report, allowing the measure to be enrolled for presentation to the President. On December 22, President Biden signed the legislation into law.

Table 1 shows the status of legislative activity on the FY2024 NDAA.

Figure 1 shows the number of days between the start of the fiscal year and enactment of the annual defense authorization act since FY1977, when the federal government transitioned to a fiscal year beginning October 1, 1976.

Figure 1. Days between Start of Fiscal Year and Enactment of Annual Defense Authorization Acts, FY1977-FY2024 (in days)

Sources: CRS analysis of dates of enactment of public law from CRS Report 98-756, Defense Authorization and Appropriations Bills: FY1961-FY2021, by Barbara Salazar Torreon and Sofia Plagakis; P.L. 117-81; P.L. 117-263; and P.L. 118-31. Note: Positive values indicate number of days between start of the fiscal year and enactment of annual defense authorization acts. Thus, the figure shows that since FY1977 annual defense authorization legislation has been enacted, on average, 43 days after the beginning of the fiscal year (i.e., early November). Negative values indicate number of days between enactment of annual defense authorization acts and start of fiscal year. Annual defense authorization legislation for the fiscal years 1979, 1989, 1996, 2008, 2016, and 2021 was enacted over a presidential veto.