President Joe Biden (left) talks with Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin (center) and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Army Gen. Mark Milley (right). (DoD/Lisa Ferdinando)

WASHINGTON: The Pentagon has a policy bill. Now it just needs the money to go with it.

President Joe Biden today signed into law the fiscal year 2022 National Defense Authorization Act, the bill that sets policy guidance for the Defense Department. The $740 billion NDAA, which was passed by the House on a 363-70 margin Dec. 7 and the Senate by a 88-11 margin on Dec. 15, calls for $25 billion more in defense spending than Biden’s budget request.

While getting the NDAA done is a major boon for the DoD, the big question remains whether Congressional appropriators can come together and reach a funding agreement before mid-February, when the ongoing Continuing Resolution, or CR, expires.

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Under a CR, the department cannot start any new funding programs and is operating under FY21 budget levels for its programs. As DoD officials are always quick to point out, that puts a major hurdle in the way of R&D efforts that are needed to ensure the US maintains a military edge over China and Russia, and can lead to extra program costs due to inefficiencies.

By the time the middle of February rolls around, the government will already be five months into FY22 — and any extension of that CR, let alone the dreaded concept of a full-year continuing resolution, will only continue to hamper the department’s efforts.