Posts Tagged ‘military construction’

Senate Democrats said Tuesday they would accept the spending level in the fiscal 2013 continuing resolution introduced by the House, signaling they would not seek to hold up a measure to keep the federal government running over an effort to rescind the $85 billion sequester. While Senate Democrats indicated they would not attempt to alter topline funding in the continuing resolution, they likely will consider shifting some funding among agencies …

Senate leaders may take a different approach than the House to the continuing resolution it unveiled Monday, but with both sides intent on avoiding the threat of a government shutdown, any changes that could hold up progress of the measure to keep the government running through September 30 are unlikely. The House measure provides budget relief for the Pentagon by providing individual spending bills for defense and military construction that reflect DOD’s fiscal 2013 priorities, rather than relying on a continuing resolution that is largely based on the previous year’s enacted appropriations …

The House introduced a spending measure Monday that would fund the government through the end of the fiscal year while restoring some of the military’s operations and maintenance funding shortfall that has prompted the services to drastically curtail spending on readiness activities through the end of fiscal 2013. The legislation — which includes individual appropriation bills for defense and military construction-veterans affairs along with a continuing resolution for the remainder of the government — would shift $10.4 billion into DOD’s operations and maintenance accounts to fund priorities such as training, weapons maintenance, civilian personnel and the defense health program that would be threatened under a full-year continuing resolution …

President Obama on Friday said he would accept a continuing resolution to keep the government open beyond March 27 that does not offset the sequester, making it unlikely that either party will threaten a government shutdown over the measure. The stopgap bill funding the last six months of fiscal 2013 would need to provide $1.043 trillion in federal spending, the cap set in the August 2011 agreement to raise the debt ceiling, Obama said …

Early indications are that Senate Democrats won’t turn the March 27 deadline for passing a new stopgap funding measure into a showdown with their counterparts over restoring, or at least mitigating, $85 billion in across-the-board cuts set to be imposed today. Since the deal at the beginning of the year to avert the fiscal cliff was reached, many lawmakers have been pointing to the negotiations over the next fiscal 2013 continuing resolution as the best opportunity to address the sequester …

Installation support will be forced to endure severe cuts under sequestration, affecting routine maintenance, construction and some military family programs, according to a roundtable of senior Army officials held Wednesday. The Army has slashed day-to-day spending for installation support to free up funds for other priorities, such as training and equipping troops destined for Afghanistan …

The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) plans to ask Congress to allow DOD to fund its programs at the levels called for in the fiscal 2013 defense authorization bill when it puts together the continuing resolution needed to fund the government after March 27. The authority to reprogram funds would allow the Pentagon to make up the tremendous shortfall in its operations and maintenance accounts that is forcing the services to curtail training and equipment maintenance planned for the remainder of FY 2013 …

The House Appropriations Committee is expected shortly to unveil its plan to fund the federal government beyond March 27 through a combination of a new continuing resolution along with appropriations bills for defense and military construction-veterans affairs. The stopgap measure for the second half of fiscal 2013 would not offer additional spending for the Pentagon but possibly would provide officials flexibility to allocate funds where they are needed and make other changes that normally would be restricted under a continuing resolution …

The combined impact of sequestration and operating under a full-year continuing resolution would affect an estimated 302,626 jobs in fiscal 2013 and result in an economic loss of $15.4 billion throughout the nation, according to a new analysis by the Army. Texas would suffer the largest estimated economic impact, with a loss of $2.4 billion through Sept. 30, according to a state-by-state estimate released this week by the Army. The rest of the top five states are Alabama ($1.9 billion), Pennsylvania ($1.1 billion), Virginia ($1.0 billion) and Georgia ($931 million) …

A continuing resolution being put together in the House is expected to offer the Defense Department the flexibility to move funds across accounts as a way to help officials deal with the severe funding constraints caused by sequestration. The bill, which would fund the federal government past March 27, largely would extend fiscal 2012 spending laws, but also would include appropriations bills for defense and military construction-veterans affairs. The measure would provide the Pentagon some flexibility to allocate funds where they are needed and make other changes that normally would be restricted under a stopgap spending bill …