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Category: Defense

Senate Defense Spending Bill Details Now Available

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Research programs funded by the Defense Department would fare relatively well under the FY2019 Defense spending bill approved by the Senate Appropriations Committee.  The report that outlines the spending details for the bill is available here.

In the report, the committee calls out the importance of basic research in the defense enterprise.  The report reads, in part:

Basic Research.—The Committee understands that basic research is the foundation for Department of Defense innovation and future technologies. As the Under Secretary of Defense (Research and Engineering) recently testified before the Committee: ‘‘The Department of Defense has the third largest investment among Federal agencies in basic research at U.S. universities, who have, through years of continued investments, been the source of many of today’s transformational technologies. Traditionally, the Department has viewed the role of universities as producing the research innovation, the Department of Defense labs as the mechanism to nurture these findings and to render them defense-applicable, and the defense industrial base to integrate these new technologies into acquisition programs.’’ Accordingly, the Committee recommends a total basic research investment of $2,798,456,000, an increase of $529,280,000 above the fiscal year 2019 budget request. This includes an additional $125,000,000 in Research, Development, Test and Evaluation, Army; $125,000,000 in Research, Development, Test and Evaluation, Navy; $125,000,000 in Research, Development, Test and Evaluation, Air Force; and $100,000,000 in Research, Development, Test and Evaluation, Defense-Wide.

The Basic Research portfolio would be divided up in the following manner:

  • Army:  $582.6 million
  • Navy:  $737.9 million
  • Air Force:  $642.8 million
  • Defense-wide:  $835.1 million

Funds for the Applied Research portfolio would be allocated in the following manner under this bill:

  • Army:  $1,166 billion
  • Navy:  $1,027 billion
  • Air Force:  $1,430 billion
  • Defense-wide:  $1,953 billion

As noted above, additional details are available in the report.

Appropriations Process Continues to Move Forward

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The FY2019 appropriations process continued to move forward today.

The House agreed to its version of the Defense spending bill by a vote of 359 to 49.  The detailed report for the bill is available here.

In the Senate, the full Appropriations Committee adopted its version of the Labor-HHS-Education and Defense spending bills.  While most of the details from the two bills are not yet available, the bills’ highlights have been posted by committee here and here.

 

 

In Other Appropriations News…

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As expected, the Senate took up and passed last night its version of the first three-bill “minibus” package by a vote of 86 to 5. The vehicle contains the FY2019 Energy and Water, Military Construction-VA, and Legislative Branch spending bills.  With the House having passed the same set of bills earlier this summer, the bills now will proceed to conference.

The Defense spending bill is expected to make its way through the Senate committee process this week, with subcommittee action expected this morning and full committee consideration scheduled for Thursday.  Meanwhile, the House committee-approved Defense bill is expected on the House floor later week.

We will continue to provide updates.

 

 

Congress Continues to March Through Appropriations

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Both chambers of Congress continue their march through the FY2019 appropriations process.

The Senate Appropriations Committee took up and cleared its Commerce-Justice-Science (CJS), Interior, and Legislative Branch bills earlier today, meaning that the committee has cleared seven of the 12 spending bills.  Some of the initial details about the CJS and Interior bills were posted yesterday.

In the House, the Defense spending measure was reported out by the Appropriations Committee yesterday and the Labor-HHS-Education bill is scheduled to be taken up by its subcommittee Friday morning.

House Defense Appropriations Bill 

  • Army:  Under this bill, the Army basic research (“6.1”) programs would be funded at $442.2 million while the Army applied research (“6.2”) programs would receive $1.32 billion.
  • Navy:  Navy 6.1 programs would be funded at $619.4 million while Navy 6.2 programs would be funded at $889.2 million.
  • Air Force:  The bill would fund Air Force 6.1 at $516.4 million and would support 6.2 programs at $1.38 billion.
  • Defense-wide:  Defense-wide 6.1 programs would be funded at $720.1 million while the defense-wide 6.2 account would receive $1.97 billion.

A copy of the detailed report for the bill is available here.

Subcommittee Labor-HHS-Education Bill

While the full details from the bill are not yet available, some of the contents of the measure are known.

  • National Institutes of Health (NIH):  Under this bill, NIH would receive an increase of $1.25 billion above the current level, to $38.3 billion
  • Pell Grants:  The maximum award would be maintained at $6,095.
  • TRIO and GEAR UP:  TRIO would be increased by $60 million and GEAR UP would be increased by $10 million.

We will share additional details as they become available.

More Omnibus Details Available

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On the Defense front, the omnibus package would fund DoD basic research (“6.1”) programs at a total of $2.34 billion, an increase of $114.6 million above the Administration request.  Applied research (“6.2”) programs would be funded at $5.68 billion, or $708.2 million above the request.

Basic research funding breaks down in the following manner in the bill:

  • Army:  $470.0 million ($40 million above the request)
  • Navy:  $621.9 million ($26 million above the request)
  • Air Force:  $520.3 million ($15 million above the request)
  • Defense-wide:  $731.0 million ($33.6 million above the request)

Funding for applied research is divided up in the following manner:

  • Army:  $1.37 billion ($480.2 million above the request)
  • Navy:  $994.1 million ($108.0 million above the request)
  • Air Force:  $1.43 billion ($150.6 million above the request)
  • Defense-wide:  $1.88 billion ($30.6 million below the request)