Posts Tagged ‘continuing resolution’

The Army and Navy are facing a shortfall in their fiscal 2013 operations budgets exceeding $9 billion because they have been spending money at a slightly faster rate than called for under the continuing resolution funding the government through March 27. While the CR is intended to cover 178 days, or 48.8 percent, of the year, the Office of Management and Budget is allowing the Army to spend at a rate that would expend 49.7 percent of its funds through March 27 and the Navy at a rate as high as 52.4 percent, reported Politico …

Two high-profile decisions announced last week by the Pentagon to trim spending did not stem from the looming threat of sequestration, but rather were responses to the department’s existing budget crisis, said Gen. Martin Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. On Wednesday, officials halted deployment of the aircraft carrier USS Harry Truman aircraft carrier strike group to the Middle East to help the Navy cope with a $4.6 billion shortfall in spending on operations and maintenance this year resulting from DOD operating under a continuing resolution rather than a full-year appropriations bill …

The Air Force would be forced to postpone the start of 22 new military construction projects if automatic defense cuts are imposed beginning March 1, according to an Air Force presentation to Congress. Sequestration would affect smaller projects as well, requiring the service to defer work on more than 420 non-emergency facilities sustainment and restoration/modernization projects at more than 140 installations …

The House Appropriations Committee has begun drafting a continuing resolution to fund the government after March 27, a strong indication that Congress will not be moving any of the 12 individual spending bills for fiscal 2013. Congressional leaders most likely will fund the remainder of the fiscal year through another six-month stopgap measure, but no decision has been made yet …

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) said Thursday he plans to move legislation to replace the automatic, government-wide spending reductions with a mix of alternate cuts and new revenue from eliminating tax loopholes for corporations and upper-income Americans. The plan almost certainly will conflict with a measure House Republicans are considering, which likely will rely on changes to entitlement programs to replace the sequester …

The Senate Thursday approved the House Republicans’ plan to suspend the nation’s debt limit until May 19 without requiring any accompanying spending cuts, a move that will provide lawmakers another window of opportunity to reach a long-term deficit reduction plan that raises the borrowing limit. The White House has indicated that President Obama will sign the bill and allow lawmakers to move on to the next fiscal deadlines — March 1, the date when sequestration kicks in and March 27, when the continuing resolution funding the government expires …

At an Association of U.S. Army breakfast session last week, Army Chief of Staff Ray Odierno summed up the consequences of operating under the looming threat of automatic defense cuts and the possibility that the Defense Department will be funded under a continuing resolution for the remainder of fiscal 2013. “Our biggest challenge is getting the right balance, and we can’t do that until we have predictability in our budget process. If we don’t have predictability, it’s impossible for us to build a balanced force of end-strength modernization readiness …

Navy commanders and senior managers were ordered Thursday to impose immediate cuts, including laying off temporary workers and trimming installation support, to mitigate the funding shortfall that would result if the Pentagon is forced to operate under a continuing resolution for the entire year. Adm. Jonathan Greenert, chief of naval operations, directed commanders to: reduce spending on base operating support and plan to cancel repair and modernization of nearly all piers, runways, buildings and other facilities through September 2013 …

With Democrats and Republicans holding fast to diametrically opposed approaches to replacing $85 billion in across-the-board spending cuts slated to take effect March 1, the best hope for reversing sequestration likely will come as part of a possible deficit reduction deal the two parties will need to strike to avoid shutting down the federal government after March 27. Democrats, including President Obama, want to undo sequestration by replacing the automatic cuts with a combination of alternate spending reductions and new tax revenue, an option Republicans say they will not consider after agreeing to raise taxes on the wealthiest Americans as part of the New Year’s Eve agreement to avert the fiscal cliff …

The defense sequester may be here to stay as House Republican leaders are vowing to keep discretionary spending levels at or below where they would fall if the across-the-board spending cuts are imposed. The hard line is part of the strategy the Republicans adopted last week when they decided to drop their demand for dollar-for-dollar spending reductions to match any increase in the nation’s debt ceiling. Under their latest tack, House Republicans will pursue their demands for deep spending cuts over negotiations to reverse sequestration and to keep the federal government open past March …