In his first press conference as defense secretary held on the day sequestration initially went into effect, Chuck Hagel bluntly outlined the consequences for each of the services. “The Navy will gradually stand down at least four wings. The first wing will stand down in April. Effective immediately, Air Force flying hours will be cut back. This will have a major impact on training and readiness …
The Defense Department will ask Congress to hold BRAC rounds in 2015 and 2017 as part of its fiscal 2014 budget request, according to comments made by defense officials at a meeting this week of the Council of Governors. Last month then-Defense Secretary Leon Panetta revealed to reporters that the department would request a new round of base closures, but didn’t specify whether the department would ask for two rounds as it did last year. “We will have to because … you can’t have a huge infrastructure supporting a reduced force,” Panetta said at the time. Congress roundly rejected last year’s proposal for base closure rounds in 2013 and 2015. Read the story in Politico.
With Chuck Hagel sworn in as the new defense secretary, the Obama administration is expected to start nominating candidates to fill up to two service secretary posts and several vacancies within the office of the secretary of defense. Air Force Secretary Michael Donley, who has served since late in the George W. Bush administration, is expected to step down this spring …
Following the defeat in the Senate of competing plans to address the sequester, senators from both parties continue to consider alternate ways to afford federal agencies some flexibility when they carry out $85 billion of automatic spending reductions going into effect today. On Thursday, a Republican proposal that would have provided agencies greater flexibility to carry out the cuts received only 38 votes, far short of the 60 needed to advance the measure …
Early indications are that Senate Democrats won’t turn the March 27 deadline for passing a new stopgap funding measure into a showdown with their counterparts over restoring, or at least mitigating, $85 billion in across-the-board cuts set to be imposed today. Since the deal at the beginning of the year to avert the fiscal cliff was reached, many lawmakers have been pointing to the negotiations over the next fiscal 2013 continuing resolution as the best opportunity to address the sequester …
Congress left town Thursday without dealing with sequestration, triggering the imposition of spending cuts of $43 billion on the Pentagon starting today, about 8 percent of the military’s budget. Under budget law, President Obama must sign an order by 11:59 p.m. Friday to begin a total of $85 billion in spending reductions across all agencies’ fiscal 2013 budgets. The law also requires the Office of Management and Budget to prepare a detailed report by today on the agency-by-agency impact of the cuts …
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 …
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 …