S. 1519 would authorize appropriations totaling an estimated $693 billion for the military functions of the Department of Defense (DoD), for certain activities of the Department of Energy, and for other purposes. In addition, the bill would prescribe personnel strengths for each active-duty and selected-reserve component of the U.S. Armed Forces. CBO estimates that appropriation of the authorized amounts would result in outlays of $672 billion over the 2018-2022 period.
If the total amount authorized for 2018 was appropriated, $632.1 billion would count against that year’s defense cap set in the Budget Control Act (BCA), as amended; $0.2 billion would count against the nondefense cap for 2018; and $60.2 billion designated for overseas contingency operations would not be constrained by caps.
The bill also contains provisions that would affect the costs of defense programs funded through discretionary appropriations in 2019 and future years. Those provisions mainly would affect force structure, compensation and benefits, the military health system, and various procurement programs. CBO has analyzed the costs of a select number of those provisions and estimates that they would, on a net basis, increase the cost of those programs relative to current law by about $62 billion over the 2019-2022 period. The net costs of those provisions in 2019 and beyond are not included in the total amount of outlays mentioned above because funding for those activities would be covered by specific authorizations in future years.
In addition, CBO estimates that enacting S. 1519 would increase direct spending by $621 million over the 2018-2027 period. That change would comprise a net increase in on-budget direct spending of $526 million and increase in off-budget direct spending of $95 million over that same period. Enacting the bill would have an insignificant effect on revenues. Because enacting S. 1519 would affect direct spending and revenues, pay-as-you-go procedures apply.
CBO estimates that enacting S. 1519 would not increase net direct spending or on-budget deficits by more than $5 billion in any of the four consecutive 10-year periods beginning in 2028.
S. 1519 contains intergovernmental and private-sector mandates as defined in the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act (UMRA). CBO estimates that the aggregate cost of the mandates would fall below the annual thresholds established in UMRA for intergovernmental and private-sector mandates ($78 million and $156 million respectively in 2017, adjusted annually for inflation).