Deep Dive: Congressional Pentagon Budget Increases

Each year, when crafting the Defense Appropriations Act, lawmakers have the opportunity to propose what are known as “program increases” to the Pentagon budget. Appropriators in particular have tremendous power to slip program increases into the budget before they advance the bill out of committee. Non-appropriators also often get a bite at the apple when the bill moves to the floor if amendments are allowed.

While these program increases are not technically earmarks, they function similarly, allowing lawmakers to target funds for their states and districts or to companies that have contributed to their campaigns. The main difference is that program increases come with virtually no transparency and justification requirements.

Increases proposed in floor amendments include the names of their cosponsors, offering some modest transparency, though Congress routinely approves all of these amendments by voice vote with virtually no debate. Most of the program increases, however, are proposed behind closed doors in the House and Senate Appropriations Committees, with no way for the public to discern who proposed which increases.

Whether a program increase is proposed in committee or in a floor amendment, there are also no meaningful requirements for their sponsors to explain the strategic rationale and long-term costs of these increases, and no mechanisms to address potential conflicts of interest.

Program increases to the Pentagon budget go largely unnoticed, in part because many of them are relatively small. However, with hundreds or even thousands of proposed increases each year, the total cost of these increases is in the tens of billions of dollars. In FY 2025, over 80 percent of the 1,500 proposed increases for procurement and research in the House and Senate draft bills were under $20 million, yet their total cost was over $39 billion.

Resources on Congressional Pentagon Budget Increases

Congressional Pentagon Budget Increases Database – Started in 2024, our database catalogues program increases for the Pentagon’s Procurement and Research, Development, Test & Evaluation (RDT&E) accounts, tracking both proposed increases in the House and Senate versions of the Defense Appropriations Act, and increases included in the final budget once it is signed into law.
Fiscal Year 2025 Congressional Pentagon Budget Increases for the Full-Year CR – This report highlights our findings relating to program increases to the Pentagon budget for FY 2025, including the total number and cost of increases, and examples of questionable increases.
Fiscal Year 2024 Congressional Program Increases to the Pentagon Budget – This report highlights our findings relating to program increases to the Pentagon budget for FY 2024, including the total number and cost of increases, and examples of questionable increases.
TCS Op-ed in Defense News: Congress’ Pentagon budget increase is in need of transparency – Our policy analyst Gabe Murphy makes the case for greater transparency over congressional Pentagon budget increases.
Hill wants $15 billion for weapons Pentagon didn’t seek: report – In this article, Roll Call’s John Donnelly reported on our data, highlighting the ballooning cost of congressional program increases to the Pentagon budget.