Posts Tagged ‘Congress/DOD’

The chairman and ranking member of the Senate Armed Services Committee said they oppose the Pentagon’s request to conduct a round of base closures in 2015, a stance which presents a formidable barrier to the Pentagon’s pursuit of a new BRAC round. Committee Chairman Sen. Carl Levin last week said he would not support DOD’s request, continuing his opposition from last year. On Tuesday, though, Levin added that he didn’t believe DOD was serious about its request because it failed to include any funds in next year’s budget to carry out a BRAC round …

The Obama administration’s decision to deliver a fiscal 2014 budget request that ignores the $52 billion sequester cut slated to be imposed on defense spending next year leaves it uncertain how the department’s new budget will be determined. The best case scenario is that Congress and the White House reach a long-term deficit reduction agreement — perhaps as part of the negotiations needed to lift the nation’s debt ceiling before the end of the summer — that replaces the automatic spending cuts …

Defense officials are considering cutting the number of unpaid furlough days civilian employees will be forced to take to as few as seven, after cutting the number of unpaid days to 14 last month. No decision has been made yet, and it is possible the Pentagon could drop the furloughs entirely …

Rep. Adam Smith (D-Wash.), ranking member of the Armed Services Committee, said at a hearing Friday that he is a “strong supporter” of another round of BRAC, making him the rare lawmaker who has publicly backed the Pentagon’s request to hold a new round in 2015. DOD needs to pare down its infrastructure following a decade of war in Iraq and Afghanistan and to adjust to a drop in defense spending, Smith said during a committee hearing on the Air Force’s fiscal 2014 budget request …

At a House hearing Friday primarily focused on the Pentagon’s request to hold a round of base closures in 2015, lawmakers were not particularly vociferous in their opposition to BRAC, but the DOD witnesses still found themselves needing to convince a skeptical appropriations subcommittee about the rationale for a new round. In characterizing the extent to which the military has spare capacity at its installations, Katherine Hammack, assistant secretary of the Army for installations, energy and environment, painted the most vivid portrait when she described her service’s reliance on attrition to trim its end strength by 80,000 soldiers by 2017 …

Scheduled ship repairs that had been suspended due to sequestration now will go ahead, the Navy’s top budget official said Wednesday. The Navy had said that contracts for 11 ships with private shipyards would be cancelled as the Navy looked for ways to mitigate the need to slash $4.6 billion in spending by Sept. 30, reported the Virginian Pilot. Nine ships scheduled for overhaul in Hampton Roads, Va., will be repaired in coming months, and most maintenance at other shipyards in the United States and overseas will occur as well, Rear Adm. Joseph Mulloy, deputy secretary for the budget, told reporters …

Holding a BRAC round isn’t the only strategy the Defense Department is pursuing to find savings from underused facilities. By the end of the year, officials expect to complete a plan that will recommend ways “to reduce underutilization” at military hospitals and clinics, Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel told lawmakers Thursday during a hearing on the Pentagon’s fiscal 2014 budget request …

While describing the balancing act officials strived for while crafting the service’s fiscal 2014 budget request, the Air Force’s top budget official made no secret that the service sees a new base closure round as an essential means to pare its excess capacity. “We also want to foot stomp that we’re very much in favor of BRAC,” Maj. Gen. Edward Bolton Jr., deputy assistant secretary for budget, told reporters …

In his first congressional hearing since being confirmed, Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel on Thursday attempted to make the case to hold a BRAC round in 2015 before a number of critics in the House Armed Services Committee. Rep. Rob Wittman (R-Va.), chairman of the Readiness Subcommittee, pressed Hagel as to whether now is the right time to pursue base closures, given the challenges facing the military, including sequestration, the drawdown in Afghanistan and the pivot toward Asia …

The Department of Veterans Affairs’ $63.5 billion fiscal 2014 budget request calls for a Veterans Job Corps to invest in veterans’ skills and experience, and place tens of thousands of veterans into civilian jobs. Features of the initiative include: $1 billion in mandatory funds to help unemployed veterans; a target of putting 20,000 veterans to work within the next five years in conservation, law enforcement and infrastructure jobs on public lands; developing back-to-work programs for veterans with other federal agencies, including the Interior and Agriculture departments, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the Army Corps of Engineers; and supporting job-producing projects with contracts and grants with nonfederal organizations, such as states, nonprofit organizations and private businesses.