ABOUT

Congressional “Program Increases” to
Pentagon Research & Development Budgets

1. FOUR CONGRESSIONAL COMMITTEES PERFORM THE MAJORITY OF OVERSIGHT OF THE PENTAGON BUDGET

The House Armed Services Committee (HASC), Senate Armed Services Committee (SASC), and House and Senate Appropriations Committees’ Subcommittees on Defense (HAC/D and SAC/D) hold budget hearings and pass legislation that make four different sets of changes to the budget lines in the Pentagon’s annual request. At the end of the legislative process, the two HASC and SASC bills are reconciled to pass the policy bill, the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), and the HAC/D and SAC/D bills are reconciled to pass as the Department of Defense Appropriations Bill.

2. RESEARCH DEVELOPMENT, TEST & EVALUATION (RDT&E) BUDGET REQUESTS ARE MODEST FOR PENTAGON SPENDING

In Fiscal Year 2023 the Air Force requested $33.4 billion in RDT&E. The Navy requested $21 billion. The Space Force requested $15.8 billion. The Army requested $13.7 billion. The Marine Corps requested $3.1 billion. The total Pentagon request for Fiscal Year 2023 was $773 billion.

3. MOST FEDERALLY FUNDED RESEARCH BECOMES THE PROPERTY OF THE GOVERNMENT

This means research that doesn’t lead to a procurement program but does provide valuable advancements may be barred from use in commercial applications.

4. THE U.S. ARMY RECEIVES THE MOST RDT&E “PROGRAM INCREASES” EVEN WITH THE SECOND LOWEST RDT&E REQUEST

During consideration of the Fiscal Year 2023 Pentagon budget, the HASC added 125 program increases to Army RDT&E; the next largest number of increases was to the Navy budget with 79. The HAC added 146 increases to Army RDT&E; again, the next largest number of increases was to the Navy budget with 82. The SAC added 221 program increases to Army RDT&E; the Navy received the second most with 106. Only the SASC added more RDT&E program increases to other military services than the Army; Air Force received 38, Navy 32, and the Army took third place with 29.

5. THIS PRACTICE IS ON A SHARP UPWARD TRAJECTORY

The final Pentagon spending bill in Fiscal Year 2021 included 600 RDT&E “program increases.” In the final Fiscal Year 2022 spending bill the total was 776. Fiscal Year 2023 is on track to exceed that.