Posts Tagged ‘defense budget’

Many of the Pentagon’s 800,000 civilian workers will be forced to take 11 days of unpaid leave by Sept. 30, three fewer days than employees had been expecting, after officials determined that the ability to reprogram funds into DOD’s operations and maintenance accounts earlier this year provided sufficient flexibility to reduce the number of furlough days. Employees will take one furlough day per week beginning July 8, Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel said Tuesday during a town hall meeting at the Mark Center in Alexandria, Va. …

Despite the lack of cataclysmic consequences to our nation’s military since sequestration was imposed in March, automatic defense cuts the Pentagon budget is absorbing this year are not sustainable and should not be continued for the next eight years, argues defense analyst Michael O’Hanlon in an op-ed in Monday’s Washington Post. Still, there are a number of changes the department should consider that could result in savings approaching $200 billion to $250 billion …

The House kicks off the fiscal 2014 appropriations process next week when the military construction-veterans affairs spending bill is marked up in subcommittee. The markup will provide the first peek into how appropriators in the Republican-led House will divvy up spending next year under the $967 billion discretionary spending cap established by recent budget legislation. Senate Democrats, on the other hand, intend to ignore the sequester and allocate a topline spending level of $1.058 trillion …

Three Democratic senators last week introduced a resolution stating the Senate will not support new BRAC rounds and that the Pentagon should further consolidate overseas infrastructure before requesting authority to close and realign domestic bases. “This resolution sends a clear message to the DOD that their request for 2015 and 2017 domestic BRAC is neither affordable nor feasible at this time,” Sen. Mark Begich (Alaska) said in a written statement …

While the $37 billion hit the defense budget is taking in the current fiscal year is harming military readiness overall, fiscal 2013 military construction projects largely have not been affected, Pentagon Comptroller Robert Hale told lawmakers Thursday. “We believe we can absorb most of the sequestration reductions with available … savings. We don’t intend to reduce the scope of any construction projects. At least [right] now we don’t believe that will be necessary,” Hale told the Senate Military Construction Appropriations Subcommittee …

Forecasts that $500 billion in defense cuts will have a grave effect on the economy and jobs are “grossly overblown,” according to a new study published by George Mason University’s Mercatus Center. The study’s authors, Harvard University economist Robert Barro and Mercatus senior research fellow Veronique de Rugy, argue that a drop in federal spending on defense will result in greater economic growth due to a rise in private spending. They estimate that over five years each dollar in defense cuts will increase private spending by roughly $1.30 …

Civilian workers at the Navy’s shipyards should be exempt from furloughs because their jobs are critical to the service’s mission, Sean Stackley, assistant secretary for research, development and acquisition, said Wednesday. Forcing shipyard workers to take unpaid days off would disrupt the maintenance and modernization schedule for ships, Stackley told the Senate Armed Services’ Seapower Subcommittee. “I think everyone understands that shipyards are a special case in terms of direct impact on readiness,” he said. “The math states there is going to be more than a one-for-one impact if you furlough …

The Navy will not be forced to ground four of its 10 air wings, as it had earlier warned, but instead it will drastically reduce flying hours. Flight hours are being slashed to the lowest level needed to maintain baseline safety standards and efficient aircraft maintenance, Rear Adm. Ted Branch said Monday. The cuts are expected to save the Navy $2 million per month per air wing, said Branch, who is responsible for six East Coast-based aircraft carriers and associated air wings …

As long as there are reforms the Pentagon could carry out that are less politically delicate than closing military bases, lawmakers will find reasons to put off a new round of BRAC, according to a retired flag officer who has spent decades in Washington. DOD first needs to reduce its ranks of flag officers and other wasteful spending, Arnold Punaro, a retired major general in the Marine Corps, told CQ. For instance, the Joint Chiefs of Staff has added 1,000 employees in the past two years …

Senior defense officials have urged Congress to reverse the deep spending cuts imposed by sequestration during budget and oversight hearings this spring, but neither lawmakers nor the Pentagon are hopeful they can be averted. During a Senate Armed Services hearing on Tuesday, Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) pointed out one reason why Republican defense hawks so far have failed to gain support from either party for legislation to undo the sequester. “I think one of the reasons that members of both parties are willing to allow this sequestration to proceed is a widespread belief that a profligate Department of Defense is unwilling to rein in runaway costs on underperforming programs …