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Growth in Defense Spending
U.S. Defense Spending as % of GDP: 1960 – 2016
U.S. Spends More than Next 8 Countries Combined
Defense: Authorization vs. Appropriations
Defense Budget: Latest Facts and Numbers
Defense Spending: Overview and Breakdown
Defense: Nonpartisan Reports on Major Issues
Defense: Current Spending Table

Source:  Congressional Budget Office

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U.S. Defense Spending as % of GDP: 1960 – 2016

       (move cursor over the graph for annual data)

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Defense:  Authorization vs. Appropriations

• The annual National Defense Authorization Act, developed by the House Armed Services Committee and Senate Armed Services Committee establish programs, policies, and spending limits for programs of the Department of Defense (DOD) and defense-related nuclear energy programs of the Department of Energy.
• Actual funding (known as “budget authority”) for each program, project, and activity are provided (“appropriated”) in the in the annual Department of Defense Appropriations Act developed by the House Defense Appropriations Subcommittee and the Senate Defense Appropriations Subcommittee.
• Not surprisingly, there are sometimes vigorous policy and funding disagreements between the defense authorizing and appropriations committees, which sometimes are settled only by which bill — the authorizing bill or the appropriations bill — is enacted later in time.
• While this division of effort between the authorizing committees and the appropriations committees may seem like inefficient duplication, the underlying logic is that the authorizers design  programs and propose or (“authorize”) levels of funding that would be “ideal” to fully fund each program, while the appropriators have the task of prioritizing and allocating limited funding among the many worthy programs, projects, and activities.
• “Full funding”:  It misunderstands the function of the authorizing committees to assert that “fully funding defense” requires funding each program at authorized levels.

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Defense Budget:  Latest Facts and Numbers

• CRS: Defense Spending Under an Interim Continuing Resolution_ In Brief  Dec 2017
• FY ’18 National Defense Authorization Act (HR 2810):  Legislative Text and Joint Statement of Managers   CRS Description
• CRS: FY2018 Defense Budget Request_ The Basics  June 2017
• CRS: Defense – FY2017 Budget Request, Authorization, and Appropriations  June 2017
• CRS: The Trump Administration’s March 2017 Defense Budget Proposals_ Frequently Asked Questions  April 2017

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Defense Discretionary Spending: Overview and Breakdown

• Defense Discretionary Spending:  (Almost all defense spending is categorized as discretionary, i.e., Congress decides each year how much to appropriate for each of the programs, projects and activities in the defense budget.
• Total Appropriations for Defense consists of:
  (1) Amounts appropriated under the statutory Defense/Security Cap of the Budget Control Act of 2011 (and later modified by the Bipartisan Budget Acts of 2013 and 2015); and
  (2) additional amounts appropriated “outside” the caps for “Overseas Contingency Operations.”  See the “Budget Overview” page for an explanation of the Budget Control Act and Spending Caps.   CRS: Defense Spending and the Budget Control Act Limits
• Overseas Contingency Operations:  The $601 billion amount includes $59 billion in appropriations designated for “Overseas Contingency Operations” (OCO), which are appropriations for “war-related” activities that are not subject to the statutory spending cap on security/defense spending set by the Budget Control Act of 2011 (and later modified by the Bipartisan Budget Acts of 2013 and 2015).   Although OCO funding is intended to be war-related (hence the exemption from the annual spending caps), the funding provided for OCO includes some amounts intended to be used for regular activities of the Defense Department.
• U.S. currently spends more on defense than the next eight countries combined (China, Russia, Saudi Arabia, India, France, UK, Japan, Germany).  Source: PGPF
• Defense Spending as a Share of GDP:
  CBO: Growth in DOD’s Budget From 2000 to 2014

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Defense: Nonpartisan Reports on Major Issues

• Collection of CBO Reports on the Defense Budget
• Recent CBO Reports:
• Prospects for DoD’s Budget Over the Next Decade  Feb 2018
• Analysis: Long-Term Costs of the Administration’s Goals for the Military  Dec 2017
• Approaches for Managing the Costs of U.S. Nuclear Forces, 2017 to 2046  Oct 2017
• Trends in the Department of Defense’s Support Costs  Oct 2017
• An Analysis of the Navy’s Fiscal Year 2017 Shipbuilding Plan  Feb 2017
• Projected Costs of U.S. Nuclear Forces, 2017 to 2026  Feb 2017
• Trends in Spending by DoD for Operation and Maintenance  Jan 2017
• Long-Term Implications of the 2016 Future Years Defense Program  Jan 2016
• Replacing Military Personnel in Support Positions With Civilians  Dec 2015
• Preserving the Navy’s Forward Presence With a Smaller Fleet  March 2015
• Collection of CRS Reports on National Security Topics
• Collection of CRS Reports on Intelligence and Related Topics
• Collection of CRS Reports on Nuclear Weapons and Arms Control
• Collection of CRS Reports on Conventional Weapons Systems
• CBO: Long-Term Implications of Future Years Defense Program (back to 2003)
• CBO: Analysis of the Navy’s Shipbuilding Plan (back to Apr 2005)
• CBO: Projected Costs of U.S. Nuclear Forces (back to Dec 2013)
• NATO: Article 5 Obligations – Background
• SIPRI:  U.S. Defense Spending compared to other nations
• PolitiFact:  U.S. Defense Spending compared to other nations
• CRS: NATO Burdensharing (2012 Report)
• CBO (2016): The U.S. Military’s Force Structure – A Primer
• CBO: construction costs to build a fleet of 355 ships would average $26.6 billion (in 2017 dollars) per year over the next 30 years
• CBO: Growth in DoD Budget 2000 to 2014
• CRS: Defense Spending Under a CR
• CRS: FY 2017 Defense Budget Request, Authorization, Appropriations
• CRS: Defense Quadrennial Review
• CRS: Defense Authorization and Appropriations Bills FY1970-FY2017

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Defense:  Current Spending

source:  Congressional Research Service

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