House appropriators ready to fund defense at $701B

The Democrat-led House Appropriations defense subcommittee plans to fund defense in fiscal year 2020 at about $701 billion, a less-than-3% increase from FY-19.

The appropriators plan to fund the Defense Department's base budget at $622.6 billion, military construction at approximately $10 billion and Overseas Contingency Operations at $69 billion, a congressional source confirmed for Inside Defense. The information was first reported by CQ, which obtained a copy of the committee's draft "302b" allocations.

The appropriations amounts are expected to align with the $733 billion topline the House Armed Services Committee is eying for its bill, which covers total U.S. defense spending, not just the Pentagon.

The Trump administration has requested $750 billion in total defense spending for FY-20, and the Republican-run Senate Armed Services Committee is expected to mark its bill accordingly.

Meanwhile, Democrats and Republicans must still carve out a deal by Jan. 15 to raise mandatory budget caps on defense and non-defense spending, or risk massive sequestration cuts.

The defense committees are scheduled to begin marking up their appropriations and authorization legislation this month, with the House Appropriations defense subcommittee slated for May 15 and the Senate Armed Services Committee scheduled for the week of May 20.