Lawmakers return to Capitol Hill this week and will resume discussions on the National Defense Authorization Act and the fiscal year 2025 defense spending bill. Roosevelt Group Principal Matthew Herrmann gave On Base an update on the current state of play and how ADC members can help increase funding for the Defense Community Infrastructure Program.

ADC: Catch us up on the status of the NDAA.

Herrmann: Despite the shortened calendar because of the presidential election cycle, both the House and Senate have advanced their respective versions of the fiscal year 2025 NDAA, and the timeline is roughly the same as in the previous year. The House passed their bill, mostly along partisan lines, because they included a range of social issue topics. The Senate has avoided those issues mostly, but unlike the House, they increased the defense topline by $25 billion. We expect the Senate to debate their version of the NDAA on the floor the last week of July and go into an informal conference with the House to occur this summer and early fall. We would expect final bills in December after the election.

ADC: The NDAA has been enacted every year for more than six decades. We often hear it described as a “must-pass” bill. How confident are you it will get through final passage this year, when almost everything has partisan political subtext in a tense campaign year?

Herrmann: I’m confident that the NDAA will continue its passage streak. Despite differences in the bills, the dynamics are very similar to in last year’s NDAA. The final outcomes in the NDAA will depend greatly on the outcome of the election. A change in the White House and any chamber of Congress will determine how some of the more controversial items will be resolved in conference. If there is a sweep of the elections by any one party, it could delay passage into the next Congress to give them maximum leverage to get outcomes they want, but that isn’t a likely scenario at this time. It’s likely conference will jettison controversial items or morph them to ensure passage in both the House and Senate.

ADC: In the current budget year, the Defense Community Infrastructure Program was funded at $100 million. The House seems on track to lower that to $50 million, which is what the President requested. Is it possible the Senate will push for the higher spending level?

Herrmann: Unfortunately, neither the House NDAA nor the House defense appropriations bill increased DCIP over the President’s budget amount of $50 million. I believe this is a function of the House sticking to the President’s budget amount and not having sufficient room to increase the program amount. However, there is still a chance to increase DCIP in the Senate defense appropriations bill, and all efforts should be geared toward getting an increase in that bill. Hopefully, the increase of $21 billion to the overall Senate defense appropriations bill will help make that a reality, but we need ADC members to engage their Senate delegations.