Last week, the House passed the FY2017 Department of Defense (DoD) Appropriations bill (H.R. 5293),278-149. Forty three Democrats joined 235 Republicans voting for passage.

House Appropriations Committee chair Rep. Hal Rogers (R-KY) said the bill provides for the defense needs of the country by “funding those military needs that must be addressed now, planning and preparing for the future, and respecting the taxpayer by making commonsense budgeting decisions.”

The House bill would provide $517 billion for the DoD base budget (excluding military construction). The House followed the House-passed FY2017 Defense Authorization bill's plan for funding Overseas Contingency Operations (OCO) by providing only $42.9 billion through April 2017. The president requested $58.6 billion to fund OCO for the entire year. In addition, the House would use $15.7 billion in OCO funding for base budget requirements, increasing total base budget funding to $533 billion.

The House action on OCO funding has drawn a veto threat from the White House. In a Statement of Administration Policy (SAP), the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) called the redirection of OCO funding to the base budget “dangerous and wasteful.” The SAP also complained that this funding approach gambles with warfighting funds and “risks the safety of our men and women fighting to keep America safe, [and] “undercuts stable planning and efficient use of taxpayer dollars.”

The House bill includes an additional $340 million to fund a 2.1 percent military pay raise (the president requested a 1,6 percent raise) that is authorized in the House-passed FY2017 Defense Authorization bill. House bill also would fund the higher active duty (+27,000) and guard and reserve (+25,000) strength levels that would be authorized by the House.

Procurement funding in the bill would buy 15 ships (including three Littoral Combat Ships), 74 F-35 aircraft, 16 F/A-18E/F planes, 72 UH-60 helicopters, 15 KC-46 tanker aircraft, and 123 Stryker upgrades.

With only a few weeks remaining before Congress adjourns for an extended recess for the party conventions, both House and Senate have passed only three FY2017 appropriations bills each. The House has passed the DoD, Legislative, and Military Construction/VA bills and the Senate has passed the Energy & Water, Transportation/HUD, and Military Construction/VA bills. The Military Construction/VA bill, having passed both chambers is now in conference to reconcile the differenced.

Six bills await floor action in the House (Agriculture, Commerce/Justice/Science, Energy & Water, Financial Services, Interior & Environment, and Transportation/HUD) while eight are ready for the floor in the Senate (Agriculture, Commerce/Justice/Science, DoD, Financial Services, Homeland Security, Interior & Environment, Labor/HHS/Education, Legislative).

The House full appropriations committee has not taken action on three bills (Homeland Security, Labor/HHS/Education, and State/Foreign Operations. In the Senate only the State/Foreign Operations bill has not been completed by the Senate Appropriations Committee.