Effects of Congressional Action in Fiscal Year 1990 on the April 1989 Five-Year Defense Program
Abstract
In recent years, some members of the Congress have expressed concern that Congressional actions on the defense budget--especially its approval of funding for large new weapon systems--could create pressure for higher defense spending in future years. If the Congress continues to reduce the real level of total funding available for defense as it has since 1985, such pressure could present budgetary problems. To help assess the importance of this concern, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) has analyzed the effects that Congressional action on the 1990 defense budget would have on defense spending in the "out-years,"--that is, the years beyond 1990. In 1990, the Congress reduced the request of the Department of Defense (DoD) for budget authority by 1.4 percent. Congressional revisions included changes in defense programs that reduced 1990 budget authority and changes in accounting procedures that added to 1990 budget authority. CBO focused on the programmatic changes since these are the ones that would affect what DoD buys and how many people it employs in the out-years. These programmatic changes amounted to slightly less than 3 percent of DoD's budget request. CBO estimates that, when these 1990 programmatic actions are applied to outyear funding in the April 1989 Five-Year Defense Program (FYDP), funding would be lower by about 2.5 percent. This adjustment alone would not bring FYDP spending into line with the fewer dollars that would be available for defense if the Congress continues to impose the same defense reductions it has required since 1985.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Feb 01, 1990
- Accession Number
- ADA530809
Entities
People
- R. W. Thomas
- Raymond J. Hall
Organizations
- Congressional Budget Office