Congress to Pass Record Defense Bill, Late Again.

• Author: Carberry, Sean

With the clock ticking on the lame duck session, Congress was scurrying to complete the fiscal year 2023 National Defense Authorization Act and a federal budget. As of Dec. 15, the House had passed a compromise NDAA and another continuing resolution. The Senate was expected to pass the NDAA but was still considering amendments.

At best, the 2023 NDAA would come 76 days after the start of the fiscal year. That's worse than usual. According to a Congressional Research Service report, "FY2022 National Defense Authorization Act: Context and Selected Issues for Congress," since 1977, on average Congress completes the NDAA 42 days after the start of the fiscal year.

The 2023 act merged the House and Senate versions marked up during the summer and authorizes a record $857 billion for national defense: $816.7 billion for the Pentagon, $30.3 billion for the Department of Energy, and $10.6 billion for "activities outside NDAA jurisdiction."

The act authorizes $45 billion more than the White House requested. Congress added $19 billion to compensate for inflation.

For the Air Force, it authorizes five more F-3SA joint strike fighters and 10 HH-60W combat rescue helicopters than the initial request and it prohibits retirement of Block 20 F-22 jet fighters, while supporting divestment in the venerable A-10 Thunderbolt II, the subsonic attack aircraft better known as the "Warthog."

Congress also plussed up funding for shipbuilding, munitions production and advanced technologies such as unmanned systems, artificial intelligence, quantum computing and electronic warfare tech, according to a Senate summary.

However, due to the delay in passing the NDAA and the continuing resolution, new starts have been on hold and the Defense Department has already lost nearly $18 billion in purchasing power in fiscal year 2023, according to a report by the National Defense Industrial Association, "How Inflation Hurts America's National Defense and What We Can Do About it."

That number will increase until Congress passes a 2023 budget.

One person who had a front row seat to the dysfunction is former Rep. Mac Thornberry, R-Texas, who served as chair of the House Armed Services Committee. During an interview at a recent conference in Virginia, National Defense asked what it will take to break the annual congressional cycle of criticizing the defense budget request for being too low, adding large sums in markup and then failing to pass a final NDAA and budget before the...