October 1st usually signals the start of a Federal Fiscal Year, but not 2019. The US Congress has pushed this deadline back to November 21st and in past years the Fiscal Year funding did not start until early in the next Session. Will FY2020 be the same? For advocates monitoring and impacting the Defense Department Appropriations legislation this processes is equally “complicated” by legislative tactics to achieve political results. For example,
- DoD FY2020 Funding bill in the US House, HR2968, passed the House Appropriations Committee May 21, 2019.
- DoD FY2020 Appropriations bill was included in a “Consolidated Appropriations bill, HR2740, with other funding bills, passing the US House, June 19, 2019.
- DoD FY2020 Appropriations bill in the US Senate, S.2474, passed the Senate Appropriations Committee September 12,2019.
As a result of this early FY2020 process, the DoD Appropriations legislation that has been “marked up,” considered and passed in the House and Senate Defense Appropriations Subcommittees and at the full House and Senate Appropriations Committees, has not gone to a Conference Committee composed of House and Senate leaders, nor has there been a final vote on the allocations as well as a signature into law by the President. The temporary extension bill approved by the Congress to November 21st, merely permits expenditure of funds at the Fiscal Year 2019 levels.
Some observations on the FY2020 DoD Appropriations bill as it proceeds to final resolution. First, as precedent from last year’s actions, the Defense funding final bill was included in a larger bill with appropriations for the Labor, HHS and Education federal agencies. This year the “Minibus,” as it is nicknamed (from the Omnibus huge multi-thousand-page bills) referenced above includes DoD in with Labor, HHS, Education, State Department, Energy and other Departments and Agencies FY2020 funding bills. This was initiated by the US House, not the Senate.
It appears that Defense funding has again become “captive” to other non-military issues and controversies in the House and Senate.
Second, deferring funding for DoD impacts decisions on RDT&E programs, weapon system development, procurement and a host of national defense issues which will become critical in the weeks ahead.
The FY2020 process for this 4thQ period (Oct-December,2019) is the “endgame” for a longer process in both the Pentagon and Congress to identify, formulate, present and secure Congressional approval of positions on DoD programs and funding levels that would be a part of the appropriations bill. These critical “points of influence,” include:
- After the Defense Department submits its FY2020 Budget Justification(detail line item requests by DoD)to the Congressional Appropriations Committee(after the President’s State of the Union(this year it was the submissions were early February,2019),prepare positions and key contacts to Members and Staffs;
- Three months to concentrate on the 18 House Members of their DoD Appropriations Subcommittee, with special emphasis on the Chair and Ranking Members of the Subcommittee and full Committee(Four total).The House Subcommittee moved its bill in the four month after the State of the union;
- Concentrate on the 19 Senate Defense Subcommittee and top leaders in the Senate Appropriations Committee from February thru the Summer,2019 recess(Committee moved their bill in September;
- Identify Members and third party “influencers” who can interact with House and Senate Appropriations Committee Members and Staffs on positions and funding levels;
- Identify Members and staffs in House and Senate leadership to “weigh-in” on defense allocations and issues.
Commensurate with the Congressional schedule and targets to present specific requests, most observers of the DoD Appropriations process know that the final funding bills over the years contain various Title’s concentrating on subject areas that “link” to Appropriations staff, Member interests, and Pentagon officials. For both the House and Senate DoD funding bills the following are those areas of concentration for “advocates” on DoD programs impacting…
- Title I…Military Personnel
- Title II.. Operation and Maintenance (O&M)for DoD and all services
- Title III..Procurement
- Title IV..Research,Development,Test&Evaluation(RDT&E)
- Title V..Revolving and Management Funds
- Title VI..Other DoD Programs…mainly defense health programs
- Title VII..Related agencies…including military intelligence
- Title VIII.General Provisions
- Title IX…Overseas Contingency Ops/Global War on Terrorism..
Regardless of the final outcome for FY2020 in DoD funding, the cycle for the next appropriations legislation is well underway and, in some cases, just 30-60 days for completion. The process includes the following outline of key targets of opportunity to influence and present issues, programs and funding levels:
- The FY2021 DoD budget has been thru its Pentagon, Services and related military decision-points for the last year. Development of specific PE levels (Program Element) for weapon systems, RDT&E projects and the like have been studied, and final allocations made. The FY2021 DoD proposed budget will be sent to the Office and Management and Budget (OMB) for a review with the White House and Administration input, as well as a “pass-back” procedure in which changes are made to the budget by OMB and sent back to the Pentagon for justification of requests. The final approval process will be after Thanksgiving and well before Christmas.
- The FY2021 DoD budget will be prepared for submission after the January, 2020 State of the Union by the President to Congress. Budget Justifications documents, volumes by DoD and by all of the individual services will be sent to the House and Senate Defense Appropriations Committee and the Members and staff will divide these according to the Title’s referred to above in which subjects, issues, levels of funding will be arranged for “markup” final creation of the FY2021 DoD appropriations bills.
A word about the FY2021 NDAA process. There is a distinct “linkage” between the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) cycle in the House and Senate Armed Services Committee which parallel’s the DoD Appropriations process. PE (program elements” and issues being advocated in the NDAA might also be included at differing levels of funding in the appropriations bill. The rule of thumb for advocates is, “…the authorizers say spend $1 on a project, and the appropriators say you can only spend 50 cents.” Also, the NDAA might detail in “Report Language” what the Congress is directing the DoD to do with the funds or with issues unresolved.
The FY2021 process begins in less than 90 days. Those who know how to maneuver in this environment, understand that FY2022 is just around the corner. The McKeon Group is ready. Are you?
John Chwat is Sr.VP, of the McKeon Group,Inc. Alexandria, VA
He can be reached at johnchwat@mckeongrp.com or 703-963-2917