Defense Primer: Defense Appropriations Process Page: 2 of 2
2 pages.View a full description of this report.
Extracted Text
The following text was automatically extracted from the image on this page using optical character recognition software:
floor amendments to the bill. After being debated, amended
and passed by the House, the measure is sent to the Senate.
The Senate Appropriations Committee typically begins
reporting the bills in June. The recent practice generally has
been for the Senate to consider the text of a bill as reported
by its Appropriations Committee in the form of a complete
substitute amendment for the House-passed bill. In the
Senate, floor debate and amendment consideration is
typically structured pursuant to multiple unanimous consent
agreements. However, one or more cloture processes (by
which three-fifths of the Senate, typically 60 Senators,
votes to limit consideration) may be necessary for the
Senate to reach a final vote on certain amendments, and on
the bill itself.
Conference
The Constitution requires that the House and Senate
approve the same measure in precisely the same form
before it may be presented to the President for his signature
or veto. Consequently, once the House and Senate have
both completed initial consideration of an appropriations
measure, the Appropriations Committees in each chamber
will endeavor to negotiate a resolution of the differences
between their respective versions. The House and Senate
can agree to convene a conference committee to conduct
this negotiation and propose a package settlement of all
their disagreements. Alternatively, agreement may be
reached through an exchange of amendments between the
houses.
The practice has generally been to use a conference
committee to resolve differences between the houses on the
annual defense appropriations bill. Conferees are typically
drawn from the defense subcommittees of the House and
Senate Appropriations Committees. Conferees are generally
required by House and Senate rules to negotiate within the
scope of the differences between the versions of the bill,
and report the result of their negotiation in the form of a
conference report. Completion of the conference report is
not on a specified timeline, so that negotiations are
concluded only when a majority of the conferees from each
chamber sign the conference report. The conference
committee will typically begin their work as soon as
possible following passage in both chambers.
Once reported by the conference committee, a conference
report is subject to floor debate during consideration, but is
not amendable. (In the Senate, reaching a vote on the
conference report may require three-fifths of the Senate to
invoke cloture.) If the House and Senate each agree to the
conference report, the measure is enrolled for presentation
to the President.
While Congress has traditionally considered and approved
each regular appropriations bill separately, delays in their
consideration may lead to a combination of several
appropriations bills into a single legislative vehicle prior to
enactment, referred to as omnibus appropriations measures.
Statutory Spending Limit
Under the provisions of the Budget Control Act of 2011,there is a limit on the amount of discretionary spending that
can be provided in appropriations measures (through
FY2021). This amount is divided into separate limits forDefense Primer: Defense Appropriations Process
defense and non-defense. If spending in excess of either of
these statutory limits is enacted, the President is required to
issue a sequester order making across-the-board cuts in
non-exempt programs and activities within the breached
category. The statute also provides, however, for the caps to
be adjusted for any appropriations designated for "Overseas
Contingency Operations/Global War on Terrorism,"
effectively making such spending exempt from the caps.
Continuing Resolutions
If this process is not completed prior to the start of the fiscal
year (October 1), Congress may need to enact one or more
measures to provide temporary funding authority pending
the final disposition of the regular appropriations bills,
either separately or as part of an omnibus measure. Because
budget authority is typically provided for a single fiscal
year, temporary funding measures are necessary if action on
a regular appropriations measure has not been completed
prior to the beginning of a fiscal year in order to prevent a
funding gap that could require an agency to cease non-
excepted activities. Traditionally, temporary funding has
been provided in the form of a joint resolution to allow
agencies or programs to continue to obligate funds at a
particular rate (such as the rate of operations for the
previous fiscal year), for a specific period of time, which
may range from a single day to an entire fiscal year. These
measures are known as continuing resolutions (or CRs).
Supplemental Appropriations
In addition to the amounts provided in a regular
appropriations measure, the President may request, and
Congress may enact, additional funding for selected
activities, in the form of one or more supplemental
appropriations measures (or supplementals). These have
been used to provide funding for unforeseen needs, such as
response to the terror attacks of September 11, 2001, and
recovery costs due to Hurricane Sandy in 2013. They have
also been used as vehicles to provide funding for Overseas
Contingency Operations. Like regular appropriations bills,
supplementals provide specific amounts of funding for
individual accounts rather than funding based on a rate of
operations (like a CR).
CRS Products
CRS Report R42388, The Congressional Appropriations Process:
An Introduction, coordinated by James V. Saturno
CRS Report IG 10005, From Bill to Law: Stages of the Legislative
Process, by Valerie Heitshusen and Jennifer E. Manning
Note: For questions on the appropriations process, contact
James V. Saturno; for questions on defense appropriations,
contact Brendan W. McGarry. Acknowledgment: This
primer was originally co-authored by Lynn M. Williams,
former CRS Specialist in Defense Readiness and
Infrastructure.James V. Saturno, jsaturno @ crs.loc.gov, 7-2381
Brendan W. McGarry, bmcgarry@crs.loc.gov, 7-2023
IF 10514www.crs.gov 17-5700
Search Inside
This report can be searched. Note: Results may vary based on the legibility of text within the document.
Tools / Downloads
Get a copy of this page or view the extracted text.
Citing and Sharing
Basic information for referencing this web page. We also provide extended guidance on usage rights, references, copying or embedding.
Reference the current page of this Report.
Saturno, James V. & McGarry, Brendan W. Defense Primer: Defense Appropriations Process, report, November 16, 2018; Washington D.C.. (https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc1442991/m1/2/: accessed May 27, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, UNT Digital Library, https://digital.library.unt.edu; crediting UNT Libraries Government Documents Department.