A final vote in the Senate on a fiscal 2013 continuing resolution is scheduled to take place Thursday and likely would be followed by a vote by the House, allowing Congress to avert the possibility of a government shutdown before the start of its recess. Once the Senate passes the stopgap spending measure needed to keep the government running for the last six months of the fiscal year, the House is poised to approve it as well …
The Pentagon’s plan to shrink the Army’s active duty end strength from 570,00 soldiers in fiscal 2010 to 490,000 soldiers by FY 2017, along with possibility of greater reductions forced by sequestration, are the primary drivers behind the service’s argument that it needs a base closure round to trim excess capacity. But in her testimony delivered last week to the House Armed Services’ Readiness Subcommittee, Katherine Hammack, assistant secretary of the Army for installations, energy and the environment, also cited improvements in the efficiency of the service’s industrial base as another factor driving the Army’s need for a smaller footprint …
The Senate voted on Monday to limit debate on a fiscal 2013 continuing resolution needed to avert a government shutdown after March 27, setting up a final vote on the measure as early as Tuesday. The motion to cut off debate came as the chamber was unable to reach an agreement to trim the number of proposed amendments to be debated on the floor. Lawmakers had introduced almost 100 …
Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel on Monday directed senior leaders to reconsider the strategic guidance that the Pentagon developed last year to determine if it needs to be adjusted following the arrival of sequestration. President Obama unveiled the strategy in January 2012 that had been crafted to accommodate $487 billion in spending reductions over the following decade. But now that DOD faces the prospect of absorbing an additional $500 billion in cuts through fiscal 2021 …
Defense officials are conducting a comprehensive assessment of DOD’s European infrastructure with the goal of consolidating the military footprint to trim expenses. Options developed through the “BRAC-like” process, which then-Defense Secretary Leon Panetta initiated in January, are scheduled to be completed for consideration by Panetta’s successor, Chuck Hagel, before the end of the calendar year …
The Senate will continue debate on Monday over amendments to a fiscal 2013 continuing resolution needed to avert a government shutdown after March 27. Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) put off consideration of the measure after the two parties were unable to reach a deal over which amendments — out of nearly 100 — would get a floor vote …
Because the White House has not yet delivered its fiscal 2014 budget request, the Pentagon witnesses at Thursday’s hearing of the House Armed Services’ Readiness Subcommittee were able to argue the merits of holding additional base closure rounds, but they were unable to say whether the administration would be requesting one more rounds as part of the new budget proposal. “We will be treating the administration’s position on future BRAC rounds as pre-decisional,” John Conger, acting deputy undersecretary of defense for installations and environment, said at the outset of his prepared remarks …
It came as no surprise during Thursday’s hearing of the House Armed Services’ Readiness Subcommittee that Republicans and Democrats both were adamantly opposed to a looming request from the Pentagon to hold one or more new BRAC rounds. Possibly the only reason to think the mood in Congress had changed since lawmakers last year rejected the administration’s request for two rounds is the arrival of sequestration. The administration’s primary argument to revisit the issue is that a scaling back of force structure …
If Congress is going to authorize one or more base closure rounds in this year’s defense authorization bill, a hearing on Capitol Hill Thursday made clear that it won’t come as a result of support from the House subcommittee responsible for launching a new BRAC. Reiterating many of the same arguments used last year to rebuff the administration’s request for two new rounds, both Republican and Democratic members of the House Armed Services’ Readiness Subcommittee openly criticized the Pentagon’s arguments to hold a BRAC round …
The Senate Wednesday approved an amendment to its version of a fiscal 2013 continuing resolution stripping $120 million in funding for a wastewater treatment facility and other civilian infrastructure projects on Guam, after Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) cited the funding as an example of pork barrel spending. The vote came after McCain and Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) lifted a hold they had placed on the measure needed to keep the government running in the second half of FY 2013 …