Title 10 › Subtitle Subtitle A— General Military Law › Part I— ORGANIZATION AND GENERAL MILITARY POWERS › Chapter 9— DEFENSE BUDGET MATTERS › § 222a
Within 10 days after the President’s budget goes to Congress, each of these leaders must send a report to the Secretary of Defense, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, and the congressional defense committees about their service’s or command’s unfunded priorities: the Army Chief of Staff, the Chief of Naval Operations, the Air Force Chief of Staff, the Commandant of the Marine Corps, the Chief of Space Operations, the combatant commanders, and the Chief of the National Guard Bureau (in the role described by law). Each report must list every unfunded priority and say what it is, how it would help carry out the national defense and military strategies, how much money is needed, and the account identifiers if applicable (for example LIN, PE, or SAG). It must explain what risk would be lowered if funded, the requirement it fills, why it was left out of the President’s budget, any money provided this year and last, and how funding it would affect the future-years defense plan. The reports must rank priorities by urgency and risk reduced overall, then among non-construction items, and then among covered military construction projects. The National Guard Bureau chief may only include priorities for non-federal homeland or civil support that were not already included in an Army or Air Force report in any of the five prior fiscal years, unless the Secretary of Defense approves and tells Congress in writing. Within 10 days after getting all those reports, the Secretary of Defense, with the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, must send Congress a single prioritized list of all unfunded priorities based on how much risk each would reduce. An “unfunded priority” is a program, activity, or mission need that is not in the President’s budget, is needed for an operational plan or validated requirement, and would have been recommended if extra funds had been available or if the need appeared after the budget was made. A “covered military construction project” is a construction project in the future-years defense program that can be done in the fiscal year, or a project a combatant commander calls urgent and is executable that year.
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Armed Forces — Source: USLM XML via OLRC
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Citation
10 U.S.C. § 222a
Title 10 — Armed Forces
Last Updated
Apr 3, 2026
Release point: 119-73not60