Select Comparisons Between House and Senate FY 2021 National Defense Authorization Bills

Topline Funding

	House Authorized	Senate Authorized
Total Funding	$740.5 billion (includes $0.5 billion in defense related activities)	$740.5 billion
DoD Base Funding	$635.5 billion	$636.4 billion
DoE Base Funding	$26.6 billion	$25.9 billion
Overseas Contingency Operations (OCO) Funding	$69 billion	$69 billion
Defense Funding Outside of Armed Services Jurisdiction	$8.9 billion	$9.1 billion

Nuclear and Related Weapons Programs

Ohio Replacement Strategic Submarine (Columbia Class)

House: $4.3 billion, the requested level

Senate: $4.5 billion, an increase of $175 million

Ground Based Strategic Deterrent (ICBM Replacement)

House: No similar provision

Senate: Authorizes the Air Force to carry out military construction projects to convert Minuteman III launch facilities and launch centers to ground-based strategic deterrent configurations (Section 2802 and 7802)

Deployed Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles

House: No similar provision

Senate: Bars reducing number of deployed ICBMs below 400 (Section 1654)

Explosive Nuclear Testing

House: Prohibits the use of funds for new explosive nuclear testing in FY21 (Section 3121)

Senate: Authorizes $10 million for preparations for resuming explosive nuclear testing (Section 3166)

Low-Enriched Uranium

House: Requires a program to assess the viability of using low-enriched uranium in naval nuclear propulsion reactors on aircraft carriers and submarines (Section 3116)

Senate: Bars research and development of an advanced naval nuclear fuel system based on low-enriched uranium until certain certifications (Section 3154)

Cooperative Threat Reduction Account

House: $373.7 million, an increase of $135 million

Senate: $288.5 million, an increase of $50,000

Plutonium Pit Production

House: Requires a certification by the Secretary of Energy about his confidence that the Department of Energy can produce 80 plutonium pits per year (Section 3115)

Senate: Requires the Comptroller General to periodically review the NNSA’s plutonium modernization plans (Report page 536)

Nuclear Weapons Council (NWC) Involvement with the NNSA Budget

House: No similar provision

Senate: Ensures the Secretary of Energy retains final authority over the Department of Energy’s budget request and promotes transparency by attaching the NWC’s recommendation for the NNSA’s budget as an appendix to the final budget request submitted by the Secretary of Energy (Section 1652)

Nonproliferation Safeguards

House: Prevents funds from being spent on the production of a Nonproliferation Assessment Statement with a country that has not signed an Additional Protocol agreement with the International Atomic Energy Agency (Section 1299H)

Senate: No similar provision

Open Skies Treaty

House: Expresses the sense of Congress that the decision to withdraw from the Treaty on Open Skies did not comply the FY20 NDAA (Section 1237) and requires a report a report on the effects of a potential withdrawal of the United States from the Open Skies Treaty (Section 1234)

Senate: No similar provision

Downwinders

House: Sense of Congress that the government should apologize for the fallout emitted from atmospheric nuclear explosive tests conducted at the Nevada Test Site, at sites in the Pacific Ocean, New Mexico, Alaska and elsewhere and that those who suffered from the effects of uranium mining and nuclear testing should be compensated (Section 3119 and 3120)

Senate: No similar provision

Presidential Participation in Nuclear Exercises

House: Requires the President to participate in at least one large-scale nuclear command and control exercise within the first year of assuming office, per term (Section 1642)

Senate: No similar provision

Independent Studies on Nuclear Weapons Programs of Certain Foreign States

House: Requires a federally funded research and development center to produce an open source analysis of Russian, Chinese and North Korean nuclear programs (Section 1643)

Senate: No similar provision

Report on Iranian Activities Relating to Nuclear Nonproliferation

House: No similar provision

Senate: Requires a report from the Director of National Intelligence on nuclear weapons research and development by Iran and efforts to deny international access to Iran’s nuclear facilities agreements (Section 9510)

Arms Control Reports

House: Fences off funding in order to obtain reports on New START and the post-INF landscape which are past due (Section 1674)

Senate: No similar provision

Independent Study on the Effects of the Use of Nuclear Weapons

House: Tasks the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine to conduct a study of the atmospheric effects of nuclear explosions (Section 3117)

Senate: No similar provision

Missile Defense Programs

THAAD

House: $601 million, an increase of $106 million

Senate: $951.5 million, an increase of $456.1 million

Ballistic Missile Defense Midcourse Defense

House: $919.3, a decrease of $85 million

Senate: $1.0 billion, the requested level

Next Generation Interceptor (Homeland Defense Interceptors)

House: $414.1 million, a decrease of $250 million

Senate: $354.1 million, a decrease of $310 million

Select Conventional Programs

Joint Strike Fighter (F-35)

House: 79 aircraft, the requested level

Senate: 95 aircraft, an increase of 16 aircraft

Virginia Class Submarine

House: $6.8 billion, an increase of $2.6 billion (full funding for one additional submarine)

Senate: $4.6 billion, an increase of $397 million (partial advance procurement funds for one additional submarine)

Afghanistan Security Forces Fund

House: $3.5 billion, a reduction of $500 million

Senate: $4.0 billion, the requested level

Pacific Initiative

House: Authorizes $3.6 billion in FY21 for the Indo-Pacific Reassurance Initiative (Section 1241)

Senate: Authorizes $1.4 billion in FY21 and $5.5 billion for FY22 for the Pacific Deterrence Initiative (Section 1251)

Active Duty End-Strength

	Request	House (Section 401)	Senate (Section 401)
Army	485,900	485,900	485,000
Navy	347,800	347,800	346,730
Marines	184,100	184,100	180,000
Air Force	333,700	327,266	333,475

Other Programs and Reports of Interest

Pandemic Preparedness and Resilience National Security Fund

House: $1 billion

Senate: No similar provision

Base Closures

House:  No similar provision

Senate: Prohibits conducting additional base realignment and closure (BRAC) round (Section 2702)

Confederate Symbols

House: Requires within one year the removal of confederate names from military bases and installations (Section 2829) and prohibits the display of confederate flags at military installations (Section 1749)

Senate: Establishes a commission to rename or remove all names, symbols, displays, monuments, and paraphernalia that honor or commemorate the Confederate States of America from Department of Defense assets within three years (Section 377)

First Amendment Rights

House: No similar provision

Senate: Prohibit actions that infringe upon First Amendment rights of peaceable assembly (Section 1044)

U.S. Troops in Germany

House: Limits the ability of the President to withdraw U.S. troops from Germany (Section 1241)

Senate: No similar provision

U.S. Troops in South Korea

House: Bars reduction of U.S. troops in South Korea below 28,500 (Section 1252)

Senate: Bars reduction of U.S. troops in South Korea below 28,500 (Section 1260)

U.S. Troops in Afghanistan

House: Places limits on the reduction of troops from Afghanistan below two separate troop levels, 8,000 and 4,000 (Section 1213)

Senate: Sense of the Senate that any decision to withdraw U.S. Armed Forces from Afghanistan should be done in response to conditions on the ground, and in coordination with Afghanistan and U.S. allies and partners rather than arbitrary timelines (Section 1215)

Yemen

House: Bars logistical support for airstrikes by the Saudi-led coalition against the Houthis in Yemen (Section 1272)

Senate: No similar provision

Russia

House: Bars recognizing Russian sovereignty over Crimea (Section 1231) and limits U.S. Russian military cooperation (Section 1232)

Senate: Expresses the sense of the Senate that long-term strategic competition with Russia is a top defense priority that requires sustained investment and enhanced deterrence due to the level of threat posed (Section 1238)