Posts Tagged ‘continuing resolution’

With the House Republicans’ plan to extend the nation’s borrowing authority until May 19 gaining support from members of both political parties, House conservatives are girding for a battle over the sequester and funding the government beyond March 27. During a meeting of the Republican caucus on Tuesday, party leaders indicated they may be content to keep in place the $85 billion in across-the-board spending reductions set to go into effect March 1 …

Defense officials are being forced to resort to “educated guesses” as they attempt to complete work on the fiscal 2014 defense budget due to the number of unsettled questions about current and future spending. At a time when the Pentagon normally would be nearing the end of the budget process for the upcoming year, officials still are trying to gain a grasp of the current year’s budget. For starters, sequestration is slated to be imposed March 1, forcing the defense budget to absorb about $45 billion in FY 2013 spending cuts …

The House Republican plan to pass a short-term increase in the nation’s borrowing limit without accompanying spending reductions would restore the focus on Capitol Hill to addressing the automatic cuts slated to go into effect on March 1 and expiration of the stopgap spending bill funding the government later that month. On Friday, House leaders said they would take up a measure this week to raise the debt ceiling to a level that would not be reached until April 15, a move that could postpone the threat of another showdown over one dispute until after Congress deals with the other two fiscal issues on its plate …

The Pentagon directive issued last week to prepare for the possibility of deep budget cuts unfairly targets civilian employees, according to a letter from the American Federation of Government Employees. The guidance from Deputy Defense Secretary Ashton Carter directs the services and defense agencies to implement a civilian hiring freeze immediately and draw up plans to carry out 30-day furloughs. That approach is inequitable, however, as “service contractors emerge relatively unscathed …

Warning that the readiness of the Armed Forces is “at a tipping point,” the Joint Chiefs of Staff exhorted Congress to provide adequate resources to the military to avoid creating a “hollow force.” The threat of sequestration and the likelihood that DOD continues to be funded under a stopgap spending bill for the rest of the fiscal year could trigger a cut in operating budgets of more than 20 percent across the joint force, compared to the president’s original budget request …

The Army on Wednesday ordered senior commanders to trim spending on a broad array of installation support functions, including community and recreational activities, utilities and the delivery of other services. Overall, commanders are directed to carry out “across-the-board efficiencies” to achieve at least a 30 percent savings in fiscal 2013 base operations support compared to FY 2012 spending levels …

Despite rhetoric from the Pentagon’s top officials that deeper spending cuts to the defense budget will jeopardize national security, the effort announced last week to trim non-essential activities and other operating costs is the logical first step to dealing with a long-term decline in defense spending, Gordon Adams writes in Foreign Policy’s blog. The need to address the potential for sequestration “is not a crisis, it is sound contingency planning …

Deputy Defense Secretary Ashton Carter authorized the services and defense agencies to consider a range of immediate actions to mitigate the possibility of deep budget cuts, such as trimming facilities maintenance, reducing base operating funding, and limiting travel, training and conferences. Other actions officials should begin carrying out include freezing civilian hiring and reviewing contracts for possible cost savings, according to a Jan. 10 memo sent to top service and civilian directors …

Facing a “perfect storm of budget uncertainty,” the Defense Department is on a path that will seriously harm the nation’s military readiness, DOD’s two most senior officials told reporters last week. At a press conference Thursday, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta described the fallout from three fiscal events that may, or may not, be resolved in the next several months …

Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said Thursday that the services and defense agencies would begin implementing “prudent measures” such as freezing civilian hiring, reducing base operating funds and delaying some contract awards as the Pentagon faces the looming threat of sequestration and the possibility that it will be funded by a continuing resolution through the end of the fiscal year. “We really have no choice but to prepare for the worst,” Panetta told reporters …