On November 21, the Senate Appropriations Defense Subcommittee released the chairman’s FY 2018 budget recommendations for the Department of Defense. The bill suggests a $581.3 billion base budget for DoD ($15.4 billion above the President’s budget request), and $64.9 billion for Overseas Contingency Operations. The committee also approved an additional $4.5 billion dollars in emergency funding that was requested by the White House for Missile Defeat and Defense Enhancements. The subcommittee recommended a Missile Defense Agency top line of $11.1 billion, which would be the second largest MDA appropriation ever in terms of inflation adjusted 2018 dollars and a 41 percent increase compared to the original President’s Budget.

The bill, however, exceeds current budget caps by $32 billion, and will require either an increase in spending limits or further cuts to meet statutory budget requirements. The bill is only a recommendation, and still needs to be voted on by the full Senate and reconciled with the House Appropriations Committee FY 18 Defense Bill before it can be signed into law.