Posts Tagged ‘Congress/DOD’

Until a deal is reached between Democrats and Republicans over topline discretionary spending for fiscal 2014, the House may consider only a small handful of individual spending bills, including defense and military construction-veterans affairs. As things stand now, House appropriators favor a government-wide spending level of $967 billion for next year, which reflects an assumption that the spending caps under sequestration will remain in effect. Senate Democrats, on the other hand, plan to set fiscal 2014 discretionary spending at the pre-sequester level of $1.058 trillion, a $91 billion difference …

Defense officials are considering approaches beyond BRAC to reduce the department’s infrastructure costs, John Conger, acting deputy undersecretary of defense for installations and environment, told lawmakers Wednesday. “We’re not sitting idle waiting for BRAC; that’s why we kicked off the European round already,” he told the Senate Armed Services’ Readiness Subcommittee …

The Air Force and more than a dozen of its host communities are embracing the use of partnerships to help trim base operating costs, the service’s top installations official told the Senate Armed Services’ Readiness Subcommittee Wednesday. “Installation-community partnerships are one approach to reducing operating and service costs while enhancing and retaining quality,” Kathleen Ferguson, acting assistant secretary for installations, environment and logistics, told lawmakers …

For anyone who’s followed Congress’ response to the Obama administration’s request to hold a new base closure round in 2015, Wednesday’s hearing of the Senate Armed Services’ Readiness Subcommittee must have brought on a sense of déjà vu. Like last month’s hearing on the House side, the panel’s chairman and ranking member each voiced their opposition to a new BRAC round during their opening statements. Subcommittee Chair Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.) reminded the DOD witnesses that she opposed the administration’s request last year for two rounds and declared that nothing has changed since then …

The Senate last week confirmed Frederick Vollrath to be assistant secretary of defense for readiness and force management. Vollrath, who had been the principal deputy assistant secretary for readiness and force management, already had been serving as the assistant secretary on an interim basis. The position is responsible for policy in the areas of civilian and military personnel, readiness of the force, and military communities and families …

The Army could be forced to eliminate at least 100,000 soldiers over the coming decade if sequestration remains in effect through fiscal 2021, the service’s top officials told lawmakers Tuesday. “One hundred thousand is the minimum,” Gen. Ray Odierno, the Army’s chief of staff, told the Senate Armed Services Committee. “If it goes to full sequestration, it will probably be more than that …

The only way Congress authorizes a new BRAC round in 2015 is if President Obama threatens to veto any defense authorization bill that does not include it, several Capitol Hill staffers have told Foreign Policy magazine’s E-Ring blog. “Unless the White House is willing to put its own political capital on the line for a BRAC round, which they definitely did not do last year, we’ve probably heard the last of a BRAC round in this bill cycle,” a House Armed Services Committee staffer told the publication …

Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, Alaska, last week was named one of nine winners of the 2013 Secretary of Defense Environmental Awards for its efforts to conserve energy and cut its greenhouse gas emissions. The 673rd Air Base Wing at JBER worked with local municipalities and utility providers to convert landfill gas into usable energy for a project estimated to generate more than 56,000 megawatt hours, or 26 percent, of the installation’s electrical load. The plant reduced greenhouse gas emissions by 13,944 tons of methane and is expected to save $73.6 million over the project’s lifecycle …

An infusion of funds for DOD’s operations account courtesy of the full-year fiscal 2013 defense spending bill Congress passed in March has granted the Hampton Roads, Va., region a reprieve from many of the overhaul and other ship maintenance projects the Navy earlier had suspended. But sequestration, which could slash the defense budget by almost $500 billion through FY 2021, is still lurking and defense contractors in the area remain anxious about the future, reports the Virginian-Pilot …

One argument lawmakers have made to counter the administration’s request to hold a new BRAC round is that the Defense Department first should review its overseas infrastructure before scrutinizing its domestic real estate. The Army already is in the midst of an effort to consolidate its European footprint, points out Katherine Hammack, assistant secretary for installations, energy and environment. The service is on pace to reduce its force structure in Europe by more than 45 percent by the end of 2016 …