Defense Secretary Mark Esper has ordered a review of a $116 billion Defense Department account outside the purview of the military services, stoking concern that officials will search for savings in civilian-led corners of the Pentagon already picked clean by previous efficiency initiatives.
Defense Budget Alert
August 19, 2019 |
Daily News
August 12, 2019 |
Daily News
Mike Griffin, the Pentagon's chief technology officer, is canceling plans to produce detailed spending justifications for high-priority projects sought by combatant commanders -- jeopardizing more than a dozen new projects proposed this spring for the U.S. military's fiscal year 2021 budget request.
August 05, 2019 |
Daily News
The estimated price tag for the Defense Department's roster of big-ticket weapons projects has grown to more than $2 trillion, an increase of $101 million compared to last year as the U.S. military prepares for great power competition with China and Russia, laying plans for more missiles, ships and aircraft.
July 24, 2019 |
Daily News
Rep. Mac Thornberry (R-TX), the ranking member on the House Armed Services Committee who helped guide past budget deals to significantly boost defense spending, said today he supports the latest two-year budget compromise reached by the White House and Congress, despite the fact it is $12 billion less for the Pentagon that he thinks is necessary.
July 23, 2019 |
Daily News
The new two-year budget agreement means the Defense Department will absorb about $580 billion in reductions between fiscal years 2012 and 2021, far less than the $1 trillion worst-case scenario that originally loomed as part of the 2011 Budget Control Act, but still substantial reductions compared to plans set by U.S. military leaders in 2011.
July 22, 2019 |
Daily News
A new, two-year bipartisan budget deal reached by the White House and congressional Republicans and Democrats would set total defense spending for fiscal year 2020 at $738 billion, $12 billion short of the $750 billion sought by the White House and GOP, according to government sources.
July 16, 2019 |
Daily News
Lt. Gen. Paul Ostrowski, military deputy to the Army acquisition executive, said this morning a continuing resolution being considered by the White House would tie the Army's hands on modernization.
July 10, 2019 |
Daily News
The Trump administration is threatening to veto the Democrat-led House's version of the fiscal year 2020 defense authorization bill, arguing that, in addition to a litany of other flaws, it is underfunded to the tune of $17 billion.
July 10, 2019 |
Daily News
More than a dozen GOP senators last week revolted against the Trump administration's current budget negotiation strategy, which they said calls for potentially funding the federal government with a stopgap spending measure for a full year and requesting Congress provide special exemptions for new Pentagon spending.
July 03, 2019 |
Daily News
Key Republican senators, including Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Jim Inhofe (OK), have sent a letter to the White House urging the Trump administration to abandon plans for a yearlong stopgap spending measure, or continuing resolution, should budget negotiations with Democrats fail.
June 14, 2019 |
Daily News
Just eight months ago, the Pentagon was planning for two defense budgets -- and both were lower than the $750 billion now being advocated by congressional Republicans.
June 11, 2019 |
Daily News
House Armed Services Committee Ranking Member Mac Thornberry (R-TX) said today he and his GOP colleagues have yet to decide whether they will support the fiscal year 2020 defense authorization bill slated for consideration tomorrow, but he does have plans to offer amendments that would increase total defense spending and block Democratic efforts to cut nuclear weapons programs.
June 10, 2019 |
Daily News
House Armed Services Committee Chairman Adam Smith (D-WA) says he is trying to position the fiscal year 2020 defense authorization bill to engage not only Republicans in the Senate, where the GOP has a majority ready to fight for higher spending and resist restrictions on nuclear weapons, but also members of his own caucus in the House, where Democratic leaders have increasingly been at odds with the party's progressive wing.
June 10, 2019 |
Daily News
House authorizers are backing several items on the Navy's unfunded priority list, including more than $800 million in backlogged submarine and surface ship maintenance, according to the House Armed Services Committee's "chairman's mark" of the fiscal year 2020 defense policy bill.
June 08, 2019 |
Daily News
House Armed Services Committee Chairman Adam Smith (D-WA) has set a $733 billion topline for total defense spending in his mark of the fiscal year 2020 defense authorization bill, blocking all Pentagon funding for President Trump’s border wall and putting the panel at odds with the Senate Armed Services Committee, which has approved $750 billion, according to a copy of the "chairman's mark" obtained by Inside Defense.
June 05, 2019 |
Daily News
Lawmakers on the House Armed Services Committee, acting on concerns the Defense Department is investing too little in science and technology, have drafted legislation that would mandate accountability should the S&T portfolio be cut in the future.
June 05, 2019 |
Daily News
House lawmakers plan to authorize a new maritime program that would secure 10 U.S.-flagged, civilian-operated petroleum tankers in case of wartime, according to committee staff.
June 05, 2019 |
Daily News
The House Armed Services seapower and projection forces subcommittee is aiming to repeal the cost caps currently in place on the Navy's new Ford-class aircraft carriers, arguing the caps have not successfully maintained cost.
June 05, 2019 |
Daily News
Acting Deputy Defense Secretary David Norquist said today he is optimistic about the chances for Congress to eventually reach a bipartisan budget agreement, but only because the alternative is unthinkable.
June 05, 2019 |
Daily News
Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Joseph Dunford said today the Pentagon should be cautious about increasing the size of the military at the expense of investments in new technologies critical to maintaining longstanding advantages over China and Russia.