The military's massive funding hike just got a little bit closer to reality.
Congressional leaders unveiled a colossal government spending bill Wednesday night after striking an agreement on some major points of contention. In order to avoid the third government shutdown this year, lawmakers will now rush to pass the 2,200-page legislation by Friday's midnight deadline.
The $1.3 trillion omnibus offers the most significant increase in defense funding in the past 15 years, including a pay hike for personnel.
House Speaker Paul Ryan and other Republicans have touted the bill as a win for the U.S. military. Appearing on "Fox & Friends" Thursday morning, Ryan called the spending plan the "Trump-Jim Mattis budget," referring to the secretary of Defense.
"Obama shortchanged our military, this fixes us," Ryan said. "This is the Trump-Jim Mattis budget for the military. That's probably the biggest victory here is what we are doing for our soldiers, sailors, our airmen, our marines, and veterans."
The Department of Defense is set to gain $61 billion more than last year's enacted funding for a top line of $700 billion.
The funding will be spread over the Pentagon's base budget of $589.5 billion and $65.2 billion for the overseas contingency operations, or OCO, budget. The remainder of the $700 billion is appropriated to other defense-related programs outside the Department of Defense.
The omnibus allocates $144.3 billion for military equipment procurement, including big-ticket items such as:
- $23.8 billion for 14 Navy ships
- $10.2 billion for 90 F-35 fighter jets
- $1.8 billion for 24 F/A-18 fighter jets
- $9.5 billion for the Missile Defense Agency
The defense-friendly bill also provides $238 billion for operations and maintenance, $89.2 billion for research and development, and $137.7 billion for personnel pay – a 2.4 percent increase from fiscal year 2017.