President Obama's FY2015 DOD budget request complied with the applicable cap as did the versions of the FY2015 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) that were passed by the House ( H.R. Similarly, the versions of the FY2015 Defense Appropriations Act passed by the House and reported by the Senate Appropriations Committee ( H.R. By contrast, congressional action on the FY2014 DOD budget had been prolonged by the fact that the Administration's DOD budget request for that year exceeded the spending cap then in force, as did the FY2014 defense funding bills reported by the Armed Services and Appropriations Committees of both the House and Senate. FY2015 OCO Budget Request Highlights

The Administration amended its FY2015 budget request for Overseas Contingency Operations (OCO) three times, expanding that category's scope to include funding for DOD activities other than operations relating to combat and post-combat activities in Afghanistan and Iraq. Ebola-related Funding Addition

On November 5, 2014, after the House had passed the FY2015 DOD appropriations bill and the Senate Appropriations Committee had reported its version of the measure to the Senate, the President requested $6.18 billion in emergency appropriations to deal with the outbreak of Ebola in Africa and to beef up domestic public health systems to deal with such threats. (See Figure 5 .) Compared to what the FY2015 DOD health care budget would have been in the absence of the Administrations proposed TRICARE changes, the Administration request incorporated:
an addition of $88 million to cover the administrative cost of consolidating into a single TRICARE coverage plan the current menu of three TRICARE options; a reduction of $180 million to reflect the higher copayment fees for pharmaceuticals that TRICARE beneficiaries would pay under one of the Administration's legislative proposals, which is intended to encourage the use of generic medications and mail-order refills; and a reduction of $92 million in anticipation of savings that result from the consolidation and reorganization of some DOD health care facilities on the basis of a DOD study currently underway. FY2015 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA): H.R. 3979

The versions of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for FY2015 that were passed by the House on May 25, 2014 ( H.R. The base budget authorized by H.R. (See Table 11 .) Subsequent legislation ( P.L. 113-76 and P.L. The final version. The Senate bill would have authorized $447.8 million: $351.0 million for Iron Dome and $220.6 million for the other three. 3979 authorizes up to $1.3 billion in FY2015 DOD appropriations to establish the new Counterterrorism Partnerships Fund (CTPF) requested by the Administration in June 2014. P.L. 83 , codified as P.L. 113-235 ) incorporates as Division C the FY2015 Defense Appropriations Act which appropriates $483.7 billion for DOD's FY2015 base budget. (See Table 19 .) Within those similar gross totals, however, the budget request and the enacted bill have some significant differences. The bill—like the companion FY2015 NDAA—either rejects outright or defers a decision on several cost reduction initiatives proposed by the Administration. At the same time, it appropriates billions of dollars for weapons programs and "readiness" improvements that were not included in the budget request. Those added costs, in turn, are offset—in part—by reductions which, according to the bill's authors, reflect fact-of-life developments and will have no adverse impact on DOD programs. The cost of the congressional additions (in the base budget) is further offset by the fact that some other costs are shifted into the part of the bill that funds war costs (or Overseas Contingency Operations—OCO), and thus are exempt from the statutory cap on discretionary spending. DOD Appropriations Overview

As is the case with the companion NDAA, the versions of H.R. 4870 and the enacted version of H.R. 83, Division C, the enacted version of the FY2015 Defense Appropriations Bill. 113-82 ) nullified a provision of the 2013 Balanced Budget Act ( P.L. 4870 would have added $789.3 million for this purpose. It includes three congressional additions costing more than $1.0 billion apiece:
$2.9 billion for Operations and Maintenance (O&M) activities that DOD included in its base budget request, but which the bill funds in OCO accounts exempt from the statutory budget caps; $1.0 billion (Section 9018) "for the purposes of improving military readiness," and $1.2 billion for equipment for the National Guard and reserve components.
In contrast with the debate over the FY2014 defense budget, congressional action on the FY2015 Department of Defense (DOD) "base budget" (that is, the part of the budget not associated with operations in Afghanistan or other situations designated by the President as emergencies) was not complicated by disputes over the total amount at issue. For both the FY2015 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) and the FY2015 Defense Appropriations Act, President Obama's request, and versions of the legislation that were passed by the House, approved by the relevant Senate committees, and finally enacted, varied by amounts that amounted to a small fraction of 1%. The narrow range of disagreements reflected the fact that, in each case, the request and all versions of the legislation were consistent with the binding cap on defense spending in FY2015 that had been established by the Balanced Budget Act of 2013 (P.L. 113-67).
For the FY2015 NDAA, the President requested base budget authorizations for DOD totaling $495.5 billion. The version of that bill passed by the House (H.R. 4435) would have authorized $495.8 billion, the version reported by the Senate Armed Services Committee would have authorized $496.0 billion, and the enacted bill (H.R. 3979/P.L. 113-291) authorizes $495.9 billion. (See Table 11.)
For base budget programs covered by the FY2015 Defense DOD Appropriations Act (which does not cover the military construction budget), the Administration requested $484.3 billion. The version of the bill (H.R. 4870) passed by the House would have added $166.3 million to that total while the version of H.R. 4870 reported by the Senate Appropriations Committee would have cut $1.1 billion. The final version of the Defense Appropriations Act (Division C of H.R. 83/P.L. 113-235) provides $$483.7 billion. (See Table 19.)
Within those similar gross totals, however, the Administration's budget request and the enacted DOD funding legislation have some significant differences. Both bills either reject outright or defers a decision on several cost reduction initiatives proposed by the Administration. At the same time, both add to the budget billions of dollars for weapons programs and "readiness" improvements that were not included in the budget request. Those added costs, are offset, in part, by reductions which, according to the congressional defense committees, will have no adverse impact on DOD programs. The cost of the congressional additions (in the base budget) is further offset by the fact that some other costs are shifted into the part of the bill that funds war costs (or Overseas Contingency Operations – OCO), and thus are exempt from the statutory cap on discretionary spending. (See "NDAA Highlights" and "DOD Appropriations Overview", below.)
The Administration amended its FY2015 budget request for Overseas Contingency Operations (OCO) three times in the course of 2014, each time expanding its scope to fund other emergent DOD activities in addition to combat and post-combat operations in Afghanistan and Iraq.
The final version of the NDAA (H.R. 3979/P.L. 113-291) addressed an OCO request totaling $63.7 billion from which it cut $1.5 million. Additions, including $1.25 billion to fund equipment for the National Guard and reserve components and $351.0 million for the Iron Dome anti-rocket system were offset by a cut to the amended request for the Counterterrorism Partnership Fund (CTPF) for which the act authorizes $1.3 billion of the $4.0 billion requested.
The final version of the FY2015 Defense Appropriations Act (H.R. 83, Division C/P.L. 113-265) adds $1.54 billion to a $63.7 billion OCO request (which included $112.0 million in emergency appropriations for DOD activities to combat the Ebola virus).