The White House is not expected to submit its fiscal 2014 budget request to Congress until March 25, putting the administration’s release of its spending proposal seven weeks behind the date mandated in law. The Obama administration has not stated when it plans to complete the massive document, but agency officials have been told to prepare for a March 25 release …
Installation support will be forced to endure severe cuts under sequestration, affecting routine maintenance, construction and some military family programs, according to a roundtable of senior Army officials held Wednesday. The Army has slashed day-to-day spending for installation support to free up funds for other priorities, such as training and equipping troops destined for Afghanistan …
This June, ADC will host its first-ever Defense Communities National Summit, our new Washington, D.C.-based annual conference. This three-day event will bring together hundreds of leaders from communities, states, military and industry and include a wide-ranging educational program. ADC is soliciting input from its members on speakers, session subtopics and overall content …
Spending by the Department of Veterans Affairs on disability benefits, veterans education and health care is exempt from across-the-board cuts that will imposed under sequestration, but plenty of other federal programs that support veterans, especially those within the Pentagon, are not. Veterans likely will find themselves most vulnerable to cutbacks in military spending for health care and related programs …
Senate Republicans settled Wednesday on a plan to address sequestration that will compete with a Democratic one, but both measures are expected to fail on the Senate floor today. After considering a number of ways to mitigate $85 billion in across-the-board spending reductions slated to go into effect starting Friday, Republican lawmakers opted for a plan allowing President Obama to replace those fiscal 2013 cuts with an alternate plan trimming outlays by $82.5 billion through FY 2018 …
Local school districts serving substantial numbers of military children would face funding cuts immediately after sequestration is triggered Friday, confronting them with a dilemma as to how to make up a shortfall of tens of millions dollars before the school year ends in the spring, Education Secretary Arne Duncan told reporters Wednesday at a White House briefing. Cuts to school systems that rely on the Impact Aid program — including those enrolling children of service members who live on or near military installations and children who live on Indian reservations — would total $60 million in the current fiscal year …
Teachers at DOD schools anticipate a shortened school year or four-day work weeks if sequestration is triggered and the DOD Education Activity is forced to furlough teachers and other school employees. So far, the DOD Education Activity has not said how it would cope with the fiscal crisis the department is facing, reported Stars and Stripes. Last month, officials said civilian employees would need to take up to 22 days of unpaid furlough between April and the end of the fiscal year if lawmakers fail to avert the $40-plus billion in defense cuts scheduled to go into effect Friday. One response under consideration is cutting 10 to 12 days from the current school year and additional days from the school year beginning next fall, according to the story. About 84,000 children are enrolled in DOD schools.
Many states have heeded the call from First Lady Michelle Obama and Jill Biden, wife of the vice president, to eliminate hurdles to military spouses and veterans finding employment, but more states need to join the effort, the two told the nation’s governors on Monday. Biden said that 28 states have passed laws making it easier for spouses in fields such as teaching, nursing and social work to transfer their professional licenses when they relocate to another state because of a new military posting …
Former Nebraska Sen. Chuck Hagel (R) will be sworn in today as the new secretary of defense after concluding a protracted confirmation battle Tuesday that included a Senate filibuster. The Senate confirmed Hagel 58 to 41, with four Republicans joining 52 Democrats and two independents voting in favor of Hagel, who becomes the first former enlisted man and the first Vietnam veteran to serve as defense secretary …
The Pentagon’s top officials have warned over the past year that if DOD is forced to identify up to $500 billion in further spending reductions through fiscal 2021, they would need to revisit the newly developed defense strategy guiding the military’s priorities. If sequestration hits on Friday, though, as it is widely expected to, the department will be fully occupied trying to find ways to accommodate about $46 billion in automatic cuts over the next seven months …