WASHINGTON — The House and Senate Appropriations Committees released a long-awaited spending package for government agencies, including $825 billion for the Defense Department, in early March 21 The Defense Department will receive $825 billion
The House and Senate plan to vote on the measure on March 22 to prevent a partial government shutdown. The compromise bill was announced almost halfway through the 2024 fiscal year that began in October.
The $825 billion defense spending bill is lower than the $842 billion requested by the Biden administration. The budget for the U.S. Space Force will be around $29 billion, which is $1 billion less than the $30 billion request.
Appropriators decreased the Space Force’s procurement account from $4.6 billion to $4 billion, and the RDT&E account from $19 billion to $18.6 billion
The funds for the Space Force align with the recommendations made by the Senate Appropriations Committee during its review of the defense bill last summer. markup of the defense bill last summer.
However, the compromise bill increases funding for some space launch accounts:
- It reduces $45 million from the $2 billion budget for National Security Space Launch services but adds $80 million to the NSSL research and development account.
- It raises funding for the Tactically Responsive Space program from $30 million to $50 million. The 2024 defense bill significantly increases the budget for the Defense Innovation Unit, an organization established in 2015 in Silicon Valley to link the Department of Defense and the commercial tech sector, by $842 million. The agency finds promising technologies with potential military uses and simplifies the often-bureaucratic acquisition process. Several DIU projects have concentrated on space technologies.
The additional funding for DIU is seen as justified by appropriators due to the unit's importance in bringing innovation into the Defense Department.
The compromise bill provides a major boost to the Defense Innovation Unit space technologies including space launch, on-orbit services and satellite communications.
Appropriators said the additional funding is justified given the importance of DIU in bringing innovation into the Defense Department.
