Authorizing $768 Billion in Military Spending for FY2022 (H.R. 4350)

What is H.R. 4350?

(Updated January 11, 2022)

This bill — the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for Fiscal Year 2022 — would authorize a total of $768.1 billion in defense funding for fiscal year 2022, including $739.5 billion in discretionary defense spending, along with $28.2 billion for nuclear defense activities by the Dept. of Energy. It is purely an authorization bill that wouldn't provide actual funding, which would be approved through the regular appropriations process. A breakdown of how the various provisions in the NDAA would impact troops, military families, equipment, the Dept. of Defense, U.S. allies and partners, and other aspects of U.S. defense policy can be found below.

RESOURCES

Troops & Families: This section would fund an increase in military basic pay by 2.7%; authorize a basic needs allowance to qualified, low-income servicemembers; and increase allowable parental leave for primary and secondary caregivers. It would also require women to register for the Selective Service System; establish a National Guard branch for the Space Force. Additionally, it would: 

• Provide financial assistance for an expanded in-home childcare pilot program.

• Remove the commander from decisions related to the prosecution of Special Victim Offenses, such as sexual assault, sexual harassment, and all offenses against a child under age 18.

• Require improved reporting on the demographics of offenders under the Uniform Code of Military Justice.

• Establish an Office of Countering Extremism to train and educate personnel about extremist activities, collect data and conduct analysis, and other activities to counter extremism within the Dept. of Defense. Waiver authority would be removed to prevent enlistment of someone convicted of a felony hate crime.

• Extend authorities over the District of Columbia National Guard to the D.C. mayor in the same manner as the governor of a state.

• Prohibit private funding from being used to fund any state’s National Guard deployment in another state, except for natural disaster emergencies.

• Require TRICARE to offer similar contraceptive coverage to what is currently provided through the Affordable Care Act by removing cost sharing through mail order and related contraceptive care for one year.

Equipment & Construction: The acquisition and modernization of several key defense technologies would be continued to increased under this bill, including:

• Procurement of 80 F-35 aircraft for the Air Force, Navy, and Marine Corps with funding prioritized to accelerate maintenance activities and mitigate sustainment costs.

• Additional funding for procurement of 12 Air Force F-15EX Eagle aircraft; 12 Navy F/A-18E/F Super Hornet aircraft; 9 National Guard UH-60 Blackhawk helicopters; 6 Air Force MQ-9 Reaper unmanned aircraft; and five additional CMV-22 Osprey for the Navy.

• Funding the modernization of the A-10 Warthog aircraft fleet and mandating a cost and schedule baseline for the B-52 re-engine program.

• Procurement of 92 Amphibious Combat Vehicles (ACV) to replace the less reliable and safe Assault Amphibious Vehicle (AAV).

• Full funding for the B-21 Raider program.

• Procurement of 13 battleforce ships including two -class submarines; three destroyers; one guided missile frigate; and other auxiliary ships. That includes construction of two additional class destroyers than in the president's budget.

• Authorize a 15 ship multi-year procurement contract for class destroyers.

STRATEGIC READINESS

Nuclear Deterrence: The Secretary of the Air Force would be directed to conduct an independent review of the Ground Based Strategic Deterrent program to ensure best practices are incorporated into the engineering and manufacturing development phase, including the use of digital engineering, and to assess options to reduce cost of the program and introduce competition for operations and sustainment.

The future award of a production contract for the Long-Range Standoff Weapon would be prohibited until additional cost analysis and justification is completed and requires a briefing on how any warhead development delays would impact the program.

Additionally, the Secretary of Defense would be required to conduct a “fail safe” review of nuclear weapons, command and control, and the Integrated Tactical Warning and Attack Assessment systems. Requested funding for nuclear clean-up activities would be authorized.

A publicly available report on threats regarding Weapons of Mass Destruction by China and Russia would be required.

Space: This section would authorize additional funding for Space Command to procure commercial space situational awareness data and services, space power and collection technology, hybrid space architecture development, tactically responsive space launch, weather system follow-on, and National Security Space Launch engineering and manufacturing development efforts.

Phase two of the National Security Space Launch program would be supported by this bill. The Secretary of Defense, in coordination with the Director of National Intelligence, would be required to provide a report on efforts to continue innovation and competition in launch, with particular focus on requirements for space access, mobility, and logistics.

ADDRESSING THREATS

Russia: This section would express the sense of Congress in strong support of the U.S. commitment to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) alliance and European partners. The European Deterrence Initiative (EDI) would be fully funded along with additional capabilities that support deterrence in the European Command area of operations. It would also:

• Require biennial reports on Russian influence operations and campaigns targeting U.S. military alliances and partnerships.

• Provide $300 million for the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative, which supports and assists the Ukrainian Armed Forces.

China: This section would contain multiple provisions to address strategic challenges posed by the government of the People’s Republic of China (PRC), including:

• A statement of congressional support for the U.S. commitment to a free and open Indo-Pacific region, including the central role of close U.S. alliances and partnerships in deterring aggression and countering malign activity by the PRC.

• A statement of congressional support for the defense of Taiwan, including the development of capable, ready, and modern defense forces necessary for Taiwan to maintain a sufficient self-defense capability.

• A requirement that the DOD provide an annual report to Congress on military and security developments related to the PRC.

• An interagency report to Congress on the PRC’s influence operations and campaigns targeting U.S. military alliances and partnerships.

• A prohibition on DOD procurement of products produced with forced labor from the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region of the PRC.

Pacific Deterrence Initiative (PDI): This bill would provide at least $8.8 billion in funding for programs within the PDI and adjust funding levels for programs that aren’t being executed well.

Missile Defense: The Missile Defense Agency would be required to deliver the Homeland Defense Radar - Hawaii with deployment of the Next Generation Interceptor to increase protection and discrimination coverage to the state of Hawaii. This section would authorize additional funding for:

• Directed energy technology for ballistic and hypersonic missile defense applications.

• Development of the Homeland Defense Radar - Hawaii.

• Army missile defense integration efforts.

• Increased regional THAAD and SM-3 Block IIA interceptor quantities.

Alliances & Partnerships: This section would:

• Continue U.S. military support to partners in Iraq and Syria to fight ISIS, and direct the DOD and State Dept. to submit security cooperation and security sector reform plans for U.S. military partners in Iraq.

• Express a sense of Congress in support of U.S. Armed Forces’ presence in South Korea.

• Express a sense of Congress in support of the U.S. defense relationship with Singapore.

Afghanistan: This section would express the sense of Congress about the importance of the Special Immigrant Visa (SIV) program and honoring commitments to those Afghan partners who support the U.S. mission in Afghanistan at great personal risk. It would authorize $500 million for DOD relocation support for SIVs and at-risk Afghans.

Funding would be authorized for costs associated with the termination of Operation Freedom’s Sentinel and termination of support to the Afghan government security forces, such as costs for returning equipment and other material into DOD stock.

The Secretary of Defense would be required to provide in-depth reports and briefings to Congress about the U.S. ability to counter terrorism, provide accountability on military equipment left in Afghanistan, and the plan to rescue American citizens and Afghan allies who remain in the country.

A commission on the war in Afghanistan would be established covering the entire 20 years of the U.S. and NATO presence in Afghanistan, in addition to the years of Taliban control prior to 2001, and would make recommendations about lessons learned.

MISCELLANEOUS

This bill would also:

• Extend the prohibition on former military officers serving as Secretary of Defense from 7 to 10 years for officers of the rank O-6 and above.

• Exclude the arbitrary statutory prohibitions on the transfer of detainees from Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

• Require the president to report to Congress within 48 hours after any incident in which the U.S. Armed Forces are involved in hostilities if the incident wasn’t reported under the War Powers Resolution. Reports would include legal authorities used, location, date, duration, parties involved, and casualties among combatants and civilians.

Argument in favor

Congress’s foremost constitutional duty is to provide for the national defense. This bipartisan bill is a compromise that will provide budgetary resources needed to strengthen the military at a time when global threats are increasing.

Argument opposed

The U.S. government shouldn’t be spending $768 billion on national defense., given how much more America spends than its adversaries. Military spending should be reduced to reflect other domestic priorities for the federal budget.

Impact

Members of the U.S. military, their families, and retirees; foreign allies of the U.S. military; and the DOD or other affected agencies.

Cost of H.R. 4350

The CBO estimates that enacting this bill would authorize appropriations of $767.6 billion in FY2022, and $770.3 billion over FY2022-2024.

Additional Info

In-Depth: House Armed Services Committee Chairman Adam Smith (D-WA) offered the following statement on the committee’s passage of the FY2022 NDAA:

“For more than sixty years this committee’s focus has been to provide the Department of Defense and the men and women who serve our country with the tools to meet the ever-changing national security threats we face. For the sixty-first consecutive year, the Armed Services Committee has fulfilled its critical responsibility and completed, on a bipartisan basis, a defense bill that will bolster our national security and provide for the common defense. This year the defense bill focuses on transforming DoD to better deter our adversaries while taking advantage of new, innovative technologies and implementing more cost-effective approach to develop and acquire crucial platforms. The future of our defense depends on our committee’s tough policy discussions about what DoD needs, how to fill these needs, and the necessary tradeoffs to ensure the United States maintains a competitive edge over its adversaries.”

House Armed Services Committee Ranking Member Mike Rogers (R-AL) added:

“Nothing is more important than providing for the defense of our nation. We face threats from a rising China and a re-emerging Russia, and the Biden-Harris administration chose to propose a weak defense budget. I am pleased that the Armed Services Committee once again passed a National Defense Authorization Act out of the Committee this morning. We did so in a bipartisan manner, including voting together to address the shortfall in the Biden budget. I thank Chairman Smith and our Republican and Democrat colleagues for their hard work on this year’s NDAA markup. I look forward to this bill moving to the floor and being signed into law."

The House Armed Services Committee advanced this bill on a bipartisan vote of 57-2. Among the amendments adopted by the committee were a $23.9 billion increase to the topline budget above the Biden administration’s request on a bipartisan 42-17 vote, and a requirement that women register for the military draft on a 35-24 vote.

Media:

• House Armed Services Committee Democrats Press Release

• House Armed Services Committee Republicans Press Release

• House Armed Services Committee Summary

• House Armed Services Committee Report, Part I

• House Armed Services Committee Report, Part II

• CBO Cost Estimate

• Causes (Context - Women Draft)