CBO has completed the estimate of the direct spending and revenue effects of H.R. 2500, the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2020, as passed by the House of Representatives on July 12, 2019. Enacting the act would increase net direct spending by $6.2 billion over the 2020-2029 period. It also would increase revenues by $47 million over the same period. In total, enacting the act would increase the deficit by $6.1 billion.
Those budgetary effects primarily arise from three sources. One provision would increase the annuities that military spouses receive under the Survivor Benefit Plan. That provision would increase net direct spending by $5.7 billion. The act also would allow individuals to file claims against the U.S. government for damages relating to the personal injury or death of a member of the U.S. Armed Forces arising from medical malpractice, increasing outlays from the Judgment Fund by $0.4 billion. Those cost increases would be partially offset by a provision that would require the Secretary of Defense to sell Internet Protocol version 4 (IPv4) addresses, therebyincreasing offsetting receipts and reducing direct spending by $0.1 billion. Other provisions would increase revenues by a total of $47 million by imposing additional sanctions on the assets of certain foreign individuals and enterprises.
Several other provisions would have smaller effects on direct spending and revenues.
Because the act would affect direct spending and revenues, statutory pay-as -you-go procedures apply.
CBO estimates that enacting H.R. 2500 would increase on-budget deficits by more than $5 billion in each of the four consecutive 10-year periods beginning in 2030.
On June 26, 2019, CBO transmitted a cost estimate for H.R. 2500, the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2020, as reported by the House Committee on Armed Services on June 19, 2019. The two versions of H.R. 2500 contain different provisions affecting direct spending and revenues, and CBO’s cost estimates reflect those differences.
On June 25, 2019, CBO transmitted a cost estimate for H.R. 553, the Military Surviving Spouses Equity Act, as introduced in the House of Representatives on January 15, 2019. That bill is similar to section 630A of H.R. 2500 as passed by the House of Representatives, and the costs are the same.