Legislative Status
The bill is in draft form from the Senate Appropriations Committee. It has not gone through Defense Appropriations Subcommittee, full Appropriations Committee or the Senate floor.
It is not clear how far the bill will move through the legislative process. It could go directly to conference with the House version of the bill, which has cleared defense appropriations but not been considered on the House floor. Another option is the defense funding will be continued under a continuing resolution.
At this point, defense funding is ongoing under a Continuing Resolution that expires on December 3 that freezes funding for all Pentagon programs at the Fiscal Year 2021 levels, largely barring the military from starting new programs or speeding up existing ones.
Overall Dollar Accounts
| Account | FY21 Enacted | FY22 Requested | FY22 Appropriation |
| Military Personnel | $157.8 billion | $167.3 billion | $166.7 billion |
| Operations and Maintenance | $192.2 billion | $253.6 billion | $257.821,863 |
| Procurement | $136.5 billion | $132.5 billion | $141.5 billion |
| Research, Development, Test and Evaluation | $107.1 billion | $112 billion | $116,.2 billion |
| Revolving and Management Funds | $1.5 billion | $1.9 billion | $2 billion |
| Other Department of Defense Programs | $36 billion | $38 billion | $38,.7 billion |
| Related Agencies | $1.1 billion | $1.1 billion | $1.1 billion |
| General Provisions | -$ 4.6 billion | — | $1.7 billion |
| Overseas Contingency Operations | $68.7 billion | — | — |
| FY 2021 Emergency Supplemental | $1 billion | — | — |
| Two FY 2022 Emergency Supplementals | — | — | $ 3.1 billion |
| Net grand total** | $697.5 billion | $706.4 billion | $728.9 billion |
| + $8.96 billion .from FY 21 | + $22.45 billion from request |
**Note: there are additional defense funds in the energy and water appropriations bill and military construction appropriations
Some Items of Note
Nuclear and Space
►The bill provides $17.9 billion for the Space Force, including military personnel, operations, and acquisitions accounts. This is a $2.9 billion, or 16 percent increase from the fiscal year 2021 enacted levels
►Approves $1.1 billion for updated Trident II SLBM missiles, as requested
►Approves $5.1 billion for Columbia Class submarine R&D and procurement, an increase of $140 million
► Approves $2.9 billion for Air Force R&D for the B-21 long range strike bomber, the B-21 Rader, as requested
► Approves $2.6 billion for Air Force R&D and advanced procurement on the Ground Based Strategic Deterrent (new ICBM), a decrease of $2 million
►Approves $2.7 million for B-61 gravity tail bomb assembly kit procurement
►Approves $609 million for Air Force R&D for the Long Range Standoff Weapon (LRSO), as requested
► Approves $5.2 million for Navy R&D for the nuclear sea-launched cruise missile (SLCM-N), as requested
►Approves $62 million for Navy R&D on the W93 Mk7 Aeroshell, as requested
Missile Defense
►Recommends $10.3 billion for Missile Defense Agency [MDA] activities in this bill for fiscal year 2022, an increase of $1.4 billion above the request.
►While providing all this missile defense funding, the committee is disappointed in the “inability to execute appropriations” and “remains concerned by the repeated volatility of the Missile Defense Agency’s [MDA] annual test plans that consistently result in schedule adjustments, test delays, and the cancellation of previously planned and budgeted flight tests in the year of execution.”
► Approves $381 million for Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) missile defense system procurement, an increase of $129 million and 14 interceptors (32 systems in all)
► Approves $488 million for AEGIS BMD SM-3 BLOCK IIA, an increase of $193 million and 8 interceptors (16 in all)
► Approves $925 million for Improved Homeland Defense Interceptors research and development
Aircraft
► Declines to add any new F-35s to the request due to production delays
►Approves $4.8 billion for the Navy’s F-35 Joint Strike Fighter procurement, a decrease of $90 million (37 airplanes)
►Approves $4.4 billion for the Air Force’s F-35 Joint Strike Fighter procurement, a decrease of $106 million (48 airplanes)
►Approves $1.3 billion for the Air Force F-15EX procurement, a decrease of $73 million (12 airplanes)
►Approves $1.5 billion for the Navy’s V-22 procurement, an increase of $752 million
►Approves $2.0 billion for C-130J Super Hercules aircraft procurement, an increase of $1.9 billion (16 airplanes)
►Approves $2.2 billion for procurement of the KC-46A tanker plane, a decrease of $171 million
Ships and Subs
►Approves $3.8 billion for DDG-51 A rleigh burke-class destroyer, an increase of $1.8 billion and 1 destroyer (2 destroyers total)
►Approves $6. 3 billion for Virginia class submarines procurement, a decrease of $65 million (2 submarines)
►Approves $4.9 billion for new aircraft carriers and refueling overhauls of existing carriers
Miscellaneous Issues
►There is no funding for the Overseas Contingency Operations fund for the first time in years
►The bill reallocates $3.3 billion that had been slated for Afghan Security Forces Fund to other programs and rescinds $500 million from fiscal year 2021
► Dropped previous riders that prevented changes to the U.S. prison at Guantanamo Bay
► The bill received another infusion of funds by adding $2.8 billion to reflect higher inflation estimates than originally forecast
► The Committee notes that the President’s budget request included $66 billion in investments for the Indo-Pacific region
► Approves $239.9 million for Cooperative Threat Reduction, as requested
► Approves $1.3 billion for Conventional Prompt Strike (CPS) R&D, a non-nuclear hypersonic weapon, a decrease of $106 million and supports the Navy decision to no longer deploy CPS on Ohio class submarines but rather onto the Zumwalt class destroyer
► Approves $1.1 billion for destruction of U.S. chemical weapons
► Approves $3.5 billion in recissions of prior year appropriations
Military Personnel End Strengths
| FY 2021 | FY 2022 request | FY 2022 recommendation | |
| Active: Army | 485,900 | 485,900 | 485,900 |
| Navy | 347,800 | 346,200 | 346,200 |
| Marine Corps | 181,200 | 178,500 | 178,500 |
| Air Force | 333,475 | 328,300 | 328,300 |
| Space Force | — | 8,400 | 8,400 |
| Reserves | 802,000 | 799,500 | 799,500 |
| TOTAL | 2,150,375 | 2,145,900 | 2,145,900 |
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