Defense: FY2012 Budget Request, Authorization and Appropriations

Pat Towell
Specialist in U.S. Defense Policy and Budget

On May 26, 2011, the House approved H.R. 1540, the FY2012 National Defense Authorization Act, by a vote of 322-96. In all, the bill authorizes $690.1 billion in discretionary funding for military activities of the Department of Defense and for nuclear weapons-related activities of the Department of Energy, an increase of $1.1 billion over the amount requested. Of the total, $553.0 billion is for the Department of Defense base budget, including military construction, $18.1 billion is for the Department of Energy, and $118.9 billion is for DOD overseas contingency operations. All of the net increase to the request is for overseas operations.

A major debate in the House concerned U.S. policy in Afghanistan. On May 26, by a relatively narrow vote of 204-215, the House rejected an amendment by Representative McGovern that would have required the President, within 60 days of enactment of the legislation, to transmit to Congress (1) “a plan with a timeframe and completion date for the accelerated transition of United States military and security operations in Afghanistan to the Government of Afghanistan” and (2) “a plan with a timeframe to pursue and conclude negotiations leading to a political settlement and reconciliation of the internal conflict in Afghanistan,” with participants in the negotiations to include “the Government of Afghanistan, all interested parties within Afghanistan, and with the observance and support of representatives of donor nations active in Afghanistan.”

The House-passed bill includes a number of provisions on other policy issues that may become matters of debate with the Senate. One provision would defer repeal of a 1993 statute barring homosexual persons from military service until the senior uniformed officer of each service certifies, in writing, that repeal would not degrade the combat readiness, cohesion or morale of units. The measure would add an additional hurdle to the reversal of DOD’s “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell Policy.” Legislation passed last year requires that the Secretary of Defense, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, and the President certify that the repeal is consistent with military readiness, military effectiveness, unit cohesion and recruiting, and that DOD has prepared the necessary policies and regulations for implementing the repeal. Other provisions concerning nuclear weapons policy were specifically opposed in a White House Statement of Administration Policy.

The amounts provided for DOD in FY2012 will ultimately be determined in the annual defense appropriations bill and the appropriations bill for military construction and VA and related agencies. On May 24, the House Appropriations Committee formally approved the allocation of total discretionary appropriations to each of the Appropriations subcommittees under Section 302(b) of the Congressional Budget Act. For the so-called “base budget”—that is, excluding war costs—the 302(b) allocations would require an $8.9 billion reduction to the President’s request.

One June 14, 2011, the House Appropriations Committee approved by voice vote an FY2012 DOD Appropriations bill which reduced the President’s requested base budget by $8.9 billion. However, in the part of the bill that would fund war costs, the committee approved $842 million more than the President’s $117.8 billion request, as the 302(b) allocation allowed. Thus the net reduction to the President’s request for the entire DOD Appropriations bill as reported to the House would be $8.1 billion.


Date of Report: June 15, 2011
Number of Pages: 55
Order Number: R41861
Price: $29.95

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