The House Appropriations Committee has introduced a bill that would authorize $606.5 billion in base discretionary funds for the Defense Department and $68.1 billion in overseas contingency operations funds for fiscal year 2019.The committee said Wednesday the FY 2019 defense policy bill reflects a $17.1 billion increase from the enacted FY 2018 discretionary funding.
The proposed measure would allocate a total budget of $145.7 billion to procure new weapons systems and other equipment to support military readiness efforts.
The proposed equipment procurement budget includes $22.7 billion in funds for the acquisition of 12 ships for the U.S. Navy; $9.4 billion for 93 F-35 fighter jets; $2.3 billion for 15 KC-46 tanker planes; $1.9 billion for 24 F/A-18E/F Super Hornet aircraft; $1.7 billion for five space launch services; and $1.5 billion to support upgrade work on 85 Abrams tanks.
The committee’s proposed legislation also includes the following appropriations:
- $144 billion for military personnel and salary
- $245.9 billion for operation and maintenance
- $92.4 billion for research and development
- $34.4 billion for military family and defense health programs
The defense subcommittee is scheduled to consider the bill Thursday.
