House Passes Two-Year Budget Measure; Senate Expected to Vote Next Week

July 25, 2019

The Democrat-led House passed the recently negotiated comprehensive budget deal Thursday that would suspend the debt ceiling until mid-2021 and set new spending limits over the next two fiscal years, CQ reported.
The legislation passed on a 284-149 vote, sending it to the GOP-led Senate which is anticipated to take up the measure next week before adjourning for its August recess.
The bill, if passed by the Senate and signed into law by the White House, would add $324 billion in discretionary spending over the next two fiscal years and avoid approximately 10% mandatory cuts, or $125 billion, to federal agencies for the upcoming budget year starting Oct. 1.
Defense spending would face the greater majority of mandatory cuts, or sequestration, at $71 billion in decreased spending if a legislative stalemate were to persist, as On Base has previously reported.
Total defense discretionary spending would increase from $716 billion during the current fiscal year to $738 billion during fiscal 2020 and $740.5 billion in fiscal 2021, according to the report. Nondefense spending would increase from $605 billion during fiscal 2019, to $632 billion in the upcoming fiscal year and $634 billion in fiscal 2021.
The agreement includes $77.4 billion in offsets, a little more than half of the $150 billion in reductions the White House originally sought in negotiations.

July 25, 2019

Recent News

DOD Accepting FY25 REPI Challenge Proposals

DOD Accepting FY25 REPI Challenge Proposals

The DOD Readiness and Environmental Protection Integration (REPI) Program has released an RFP for REPI Challenge grant funding for fiscal year 2025, according to a Monday announcement. “The REPI Program designed the REPI Challenge to help meet its ambitious...

Murray Will Push for More Domestic Spending if Defense Budget Goes Up

Murray Will Push for More Domestic Spending if Defense Budget Goes Up

There’s some bipartisan talk on Capitol Hill of raising the fiscal year 2025 defense budget above the levels agreed to in last year’s spending deal. But the top Democratic appropriator said last week that “stronger investments” are needed in the national security...

Biden Says National Guard Should Not Intervene in Campus Protests

Biden Says National Guard Should Not Intervene in Campus Protests

President Biden told reporters last week that “order must prevail” when protests become violent, as some pro-Palestinian demonstrations have on college campuses across the country, as CBS News reported. “I will always defend free speech,” Biden said Thursday,...

Post-Leadership, McConnell Plans to Push for More Defense Funding

Post-Leadership, McConnell Plans to Push for More Defense Funding

When Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell steps down from his Senate leadership role after the November elections, he’ll have at least two more years in the Senate. Now he’s signaled one of his priorities as a rank-and-file Senator is to increase defense funding,...

PAST STORIES