National Defense Authorization Act for FY 2023

The U.S. Senate, by an overwhelming bipartisan majority (83-11), passed the $858 billion fiscal 2023 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), echoing the previous week’s passage of the bill by the U.S. House (350-80). The legislation was signed by President Biden on Dec. 23, 2022.

The bill increases the U.S. national security budget by just over 10% from last year’s $778 billion. It increases pay for service members, authorizes the purchase of new weapons, and ends the military’s COVID-19 vaccine mandate.

This is the 62nd consecutive year that Congress has reached bipartisan, bicameral agreement on the NDAA. This year’s agreement, the James M. Inhofe National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2023, provides $857.9 billion in top-line funding, including $847.3 billion in NDAA allocations and $10.6 billion in other extra-NDAA funding activities.

Organization of the NDAA

The 3,854-page NDAA is organized into nine divisions as follows:

Division A—Department of Defense Authorizations establishes procurement procedures for the DOD and authorizes $816.7 billion to fund the armed forces.

• A 4.6% pay raise for military service members and the DOD civilian workforce
• A 2% increase in the housing allowance for service members
• $160 billion for aircraft, missiles, ammunition, combat vehicles, Navy ships, and other equipment
• Funding for research and development of a new nuclear-capable cruise missile that could be launched from ships or submarines
• Requiring the Secretary of Defense to rescind the mandate that members of the armed forces be vaccinated against COVID-19

Division B—Military Construction Authorizations provides funding for construction projects.

• $7.3 billion for military construction to address unfunded requirements, cost to complete, and market adjustment funds due to inflation
• Update of the integrated master infrastructure plan to support the defense of Guam
• Study requirements for future land-force ranges, training areas, and related facilities in Hawaii
• $165.3 million for the continued training and equipping of vetted Syrian groups and individuals
• A waiver for the caps on the costs of construction and repair on a per-project basis

Division C—Department of Energy National Security Authorizations and Other Authorizations

• $22.3 billion for the activities of the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA)
• $6.8 billion for Department of Energy (DOE) defense environmental cleanup activities
• $978.4 million for additional DOE defense activities
• $156.6 million for DOE nuclear energy activities
• $30 million threshold for minor construction indexed to inflation for three years

Division D—Funding Tables lays out, in detail, how appropriated funds will be apportioned in all divisions and the source for all listed authorized funding.

Division E—Non-Department of Defense Matters provides funding for veterans programs and related activities, including:

• Women who served as nurses during World War II
• Transition grants for veterans upon separation, retirement, or discharge
• Improvement of Veterans Affairs centers

Division F—Other Matters

• $800 million for the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative (USAI)
• $10 billion over five years to finance sales of weaponry and military equipment to Taiwan
• Training and other security assistance to help Guam defend itself against a possible invasion by China
• $1 billion to buy minerals, such as hard-to-get metals and lithium-ion battery ingredients for the country’s defense stockpile
• Prohibit U.S. government agencies from purchasing items that contain semiconductors made by Chinese manufacturers with ties to China’s Communist Party

Division G—Don Young Coast Guard Authorization Act of 2022 provides authorization for funding of the Coast Guard to include:

• Allocation levels of military strength
• Building land-based infrastructure and facilities
• Acquisition of additional Coast Guard cutters
• Permission for U.S. Coast Guard personnel to train with foreign partners under the Indo-Pacific Maritime Security Initiative (MSI)

Division H—Financial Transparency includes the following financial security legislation:

• The Financial Transparency Act, which requires financial regulators to adopt a set of data collection and dispersion standards and to adopt electronic forms to replace paper-based forms
• The Anti-Money Laundering Act and Corporate Transparency Act, which provides protection for individuals, corporations, and organizations from a whole host of criminals as well as protection for whistleblowers who report these crimes

Since many of these criminals are Russian oligarchs, these matters take on military significance.

Division I—Public Lands

• The Protecting America’s Wilderness Act funds a Department of Defense study on the “impacts that the expansion of wilderness designations in the western United States would have on the readiness of the armed forces of the United States with respect to aviation training.”

The Bottom Line

The National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) is one of very few pieces of legislation that has overwhelming annual support from both political parties in both houses of Congress. The fiscal year (FY) 2023 NDAA makes the 62nd consecutive year that this authorization document has been approved by a majority of members of Congress.

Because it is popular, it is also an occasional repository of add-on legislation that might not receive approval on its own. For example, in the FY 2023 NDAA, the Financial Transparency Act would seem to have little to do with military operations. That said, the actual money that funds the NDAA comes from the omnibus budget bill, which is always a contentious piece of legislation on Capitol Hill.