Posts Tagged ‘Congress/DOD’

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 …

The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) plans to ask Congress to allow DOD to fund its programs at the levels called for in the fiscal 2013 defense authorization bill when it puts together the continuing resolution needed to fund the government after March 27. The authority to reprogram funds would allow the Pentagon to make up the tremendous shortfall in its operations and maintenance accounts that is forcing the services to curtail training and equipment maintenance planned for the remainder of FY 2013 …

The White House released new documents over the weekend depicting the state-by-state impacts of defense and domestic cuts stemming from sequestration in its latest move to pressure Republican leaders to accept some tax increases as part of a deal to avert across-the-board spending reductions scheduled to be carried out starting on Friday. Based on temporary furloughs of DOD civilian workers, Virginia would be hurt the most with 90,000 employees expected to lose up to 22 days of work over the last seven months of fiscal 2013 …

The Senate is moving toward separate votes Thursday on competing plans to replace, or at least mitigate, $85 billion in automatic spending reductions set to take effect Friday. Neither is likely to gain the required 60 votes for passage, though, leaving the March 27 deadline for extending fiscal 2013 funding for the federal government as the real milestone for Congress to address the sequester …

Communities, small businesses, contractors and military families are among those who will be affected by spending cuts scheduled to go into effect at the end of the week, according to a panel of experts and officials who briefed congressional staff Monday. The briefing was organized by the Association of Defense Communities and co-hosted by Reps. Lynn Jenkins (R-Kan.) and Sam Farr (D-Calif.), who are re-forming the Defense Communities Caucus for the current Congress …

The House measure to fund the federal government beyond March 27 most likely will include language allowing the Navy to resume much of the ship repair work it recently has cancelled due the fiscal uncertainty stemming from sequestration and the likelihood the service is funded by a continuing resolution for the remainder of fiscal 2013, Rep. Randy Forbes said Monday. Forbes said he was confident “anomalies” in the stopgap measure would allow Navy officials to shift existing funds into accounts that would cover the maintenance work …

The House Appropriations Committee is expected shortly to unveil its plan to fund the federal government beyond March 27 through a combination of a new continuing resolution along with appropriations bills for defense and military construction-veterans affairs. The stopgap measure for the second half of fiscal 2013 would not offer additional spending for the Pentagon but possibly would provide officials flexibility to allocate funds where they are needed and make other changes that normally would be restricted under a continuing resolution …

While President Obama continues his campaign to pressure Republican leaders to accept some tax increases to offset the sequester, the Senate this week will take up competing plans to deal with the $85 billion in across-the-board spending cuts scheduled to go into effect Friday. Under the plan introduced by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.), defense spending would be reduced by $27.5 billion over a seven-year period starting in fiscal 2015, rather than by $43 billion this year, as it would if sequestration goes forward …

Even as the likelihood that Congress fails to nullify deep spending reductions before they go into effect March 1 draws ever closer, defense officials will not start planning for the possibility that the cuts slated to be imposed next year could be realized as well. The Office of Management and Budget still is directing agencies not to plan for the portion of the sequester set to go into effect in fiscal 2014, Pentagon Comptroller Robert Hale told reporters Wednesday …