FY2024 Defense Appropriations: Status of Legislative Activity

On March 23, 2024, Congress enacted the Department of Defense Appropriations Act, 2024 as Division A of the Further Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2024 (P.L. 118-47), a package of six appropriations acts known as a minibus. Enactment of the legislation occurred nearly six months after the October 1 start of the fiscal year—and after Congress passed four continuing resolutions (Division A of P.L. 118-15; P.L. 118-22; P.L. 118-35; P.L. 118-40) to fund government agencies, including the U.S. Department of Defense (DOD), during FY2024 (see Figure 1).

This product provides an overview of key legislative activity on the Department of Defense Appropriations Act, 2024. It does not cover legislative activity stemming from the Biden Administration's October 20, 2023, request to Congress for $105.6 billion in emergency supplemental funding for Ukraine, Israel, and other "key national security priorities," including $58.3 billion for DOD.

Regular Appropriations

House-Passed H.R. 4365

Between February and April 2023, the House Committee on Appropriations' Subcommittee on Defense (HAC-D) held six open hearings and seven classified sessions in part to review and receive testimony on the defense-related portion of the President's FY2024 budget request. Topics for the open sessions included Ukraine oversight, a Member Day for Members to share their defense priorities with the subcommittee, and budget hearings on the FY2024 requests for the DOD, Air Force and Space Force, Army, and Navy and Marine Corps.

On June 14, 2023, the HAC released a draft measure and a summary of a Department of Defense Appropriations Act, 2024. On June 15, the subcommittee held a closed session and approved by voice vote its version of the FY2024 defense appropriations bill. On June 22, HAC convened a full committee hearing to mark up the legislation and vote on amendments, including roll call votes on amendments not contained in the subcommittee mark. The committee voted 34-24 to report the bill as amended to the House. On June 27, the HAC reported the bill and accompanying report to the House (H.R. 4365; H.Rept. 118-121). On September 28, the House passed H.R. 4365, as amended, by a vote of 218-210.

Senate Appropriations Committee (SAC)-Reported S. 2587

Between March and June, the SAC Subcommittee on Defense (SAC-D) held open and closed hearings to review and receive testimony on the President's FY2024 budget request for defense and intelligence activities. Open hearings included reviews of the FY2024 budget request for the Navy and Marine Corps, Air Force and Space Force, Army, DOD, and National Guard and Reserve. Closed hearings reviewed the FY2024 budget request for hypersonic threats, missile defense, and the protection of the U.S. homeland; capacity of the defense industrial base and wartime stockpiles; space capabilities of the DOD and intelligence community; and the Central Intelligence Agency and National Security Agency.

On July 27, 2023, the full committee considered defense appropriations bill text, adopted amendments, and voted 27-1 to report the bill to the Senate. The same day, the SAC reported the bill and accompanying report (S. 2587; S.Rept. 118-81) to the Senate.

Enacted H.R. 2882 (Minibus)

On March 20 and March 21, 2024, the House and Senate Appropriations Committees released draft text of legislation containing a compromise version of the FY2024 DOD appropriations act, along with an explanatory statement containing spending tables for individual line items in the defense budget. Rather than appointing a conference committee to negotiate a final bill text, the chambers utilized a process of amendment exchange. To accelerate procedural voting, the chambers placed the bicameral, negotiated bill text into an unrelated piece of legislation (H.R. 2882), which each chamber had previously passed.

On March 22, 2024, the House passed an amendment to H.R. 2882, substituting the prior bill text with the negotiated text of the Further Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2024. It did so by voting on H.Res. 1102, a resolution to insert the negotiated text into the Senate-passed version of H.R. 2882.

Following floor votes rejecting additional amendments to the House-passed version of H.R. 2882, the Senate on March 23, 2024, passed an identical version, sending the Further Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2024 to the President's desk. The President signed the legislation on March 23, 2024, as P.L. 118-47.

Table 1 shows the status of legislative activity on the Department of Defense Appropriations Act, 2024.

Figure 1 shows the timing of the annual defense appropriations act since FY1977, when the federal government transitioned to a fiscal year beginning October 1. The figure shows that since FY1977 annual defense appropriations legislation has been enacted, on average, 58 days after the start of the fiscal year (i.e., late November). Since FY2020, the legislation has been enacted, on average, 119 days after the start of the fiscal year (i.e., late January).

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

Source: CRS figure based on data from CRS Report 98-756, Defense Authorization and Appropriations Bills: FY1961-FY2021, by Barbara Salazar Torreon and Sofia Plagakis; P.L. 117-103; P.L. 117-328; and P.L. 118-47. Notes: Positive values indicate number of days between start of the fiscal year and enactment of annual defense appropriations acts. Negative values indicate number of days between enactment of annual defense appropriations acts and start of fiscal year.