Posts Tagged ‘Congress/DOD’

President Obama’s nominee to be the next Air Force chief of staff told the Senate Armed Services Committee on Thursday that he supported the Air Force’s far-reaching proposal to trim the force structure of the Air National Guard and Air Force Reserve, while noting the critical challenge the service faces in determining its future force structure. At the same time, Gen. Mark Welsh acknowledged the Air National Guard’s contribution to national security and conceded that state and Guard officials should have been involved in crafting the plan …

Before passing a $606 billion fiscal 2013 defense spending bill Thursday evening, the House approved language prohibiting funds from being used to plan or implement a new base closure round. The amendment, sponsored by Rep. Rob Wittman, echoed a provision he added to the defense authorization bill in May. The amendment may be overkill, since both chambers’ versions of the authorization bill ignore DOD’s request for BRAC rounds in 2013 and 2015, but it certainly underscores the lack of tolerance for another BRAC round among House members …

On a 414-2 vote, the House passed a bill requiring the White House to explain how $109 billion in automatic cuts to fiscal 2013 spending would be implemented across defense and domestic programs. The administration would have 30 days to report how it will address the cuts at the “program, project and activity level …

The defense industry is preparing to distribute layoff notices to thousands of workers in November as the first year’s installment of the budget sequester approaches, industry executives told the House Armed Services Committee Wednesday. Lockheed Martin may have to eliminate 10,000 workers if the Pentagon is forced to absorb $500 billion in spending reductions through 2021, CEO Robert Stevens told lawmakers. The uncertainty over whether the cuts will be imposed and how DOD would carry them out has caused officials to prepare for the worst, with corporate investment and hiring already being curtailed …

In an interview following a campaign event outside of Richmond, Va., last week, President Obama told a reporter from a Hampton Roads television station that he would not support a new round of base closures. “I don’t think now is the time for BRAC, we just went through some base closings and the strategy that we have does not call for that,” Obama told WAVY ….

Republicans and Democrats clearly do not agree on how to undo the $500 billion in defense spending cuts slated to go into effect starting in January, but senators from the two parties on Tuesday agreed that delaying the budget sequester one year is the best solution. “I do see that as a way forward,” Sen. Kelly Ayotte said at an event put on by the Aerospace Industries Association to warn of the catastrophic economic impacts that would follow sequestration …

Funding for all DOD contracts in fiscal 2013 — including those scheduled to be obligated before next January — are at risk of being cut as a result of the looming budget sequester, press secretary George Little told reporters Tuesday. “We are, obviously, assessing the potential impacts of sequestration,” Little said in response to a question about plans to hold off on awarding contracts from October to January. “Clearly, we do need to take a look at contracts and take that into account, should sequestration go into effect …

The House and Senate last week both passed legislation designed to make it easier for veterans to find jobs using the skills they acquired during their military careers. The Senate gave unanimous consent to the Veterans Skills to Jobs Act, H.R. 4155, after the House approved it, sending the measure to the White House. The bill requires federal agencies to recognize relevant military training as sufficient to satisfy training or certification requirements for federal occupational licenses …

Democrats are prepared to go over the “fiscal cliff,” allowing $600 billion worth of Bush-era tax cuts to expire and automatic spending cuts to take effect in January, unless Republicans drop their opposition to higher taxes on the wealthy, Washington Sen. Patty Murray, a member of the Democrat leadership, said during a speech at the Brookings Institution on Monday. Murray made clear that on both issues, budget sequestration and the tax hikes, no deal is possible unless Republicans relent to tax increases …

Republican congressional leaders on Friday accused President Obama of ignoring the threat of sequestration through his insistence that new revenue be included in any bipartisan agreement to replace $500 billion in automatic spending cuts each to defense and domestic programs. “The sequester will have a significant impact on our national security and other domestic programs — such as medical research and special education — and yet the White House is now holding our troops and other important programs hostage in order to foist tax increases on small businesses …