House advances Defense Appropriations Bill

The U.S. House of Representatives advanced last week the Defense Appropriations bill for fiscal year 2019, which marks a roughly 2.5 percent increase over 2018 funding levels.

The bill provides $674.6 billion for the Department of Defense, including $606.5 billion in base discretionary funding and $68.1 billion in Overseas Contingency Operations (OCO)/Global War on Terrorism (GWOT) funding. Overall, it’s an increase of $17.1 billion over the previous year. The bill also includes a 2.6 percent pay raise for the military, the largest in nine years.

The allocation funds the Department of Defense – including operations, readiness, equipment modernization, and health and quality-of-life programs for our troops and military families. It is consistent with the National Defense Authorization Act which the House approved in May.

“With the changing global dynamics and ever-growing threats, it is absolutely imperative that our military is properly trained, equipped, and fully supported. It is also critically important to provide our men and women in uniform with the funding and resources they need to execute their missions, assist and protect our allies around the world, provide for their families, and ensure the current and future security of our nation,” Appropriations Committee Chairman Rodney Frelinghuysen (R-NJ) said. “This legislation does all of this by including robust funding for our troops, the defense programs and activities necessary to accomplish our national goals and ideals, and to continue to rebuild our military.”