Defense Budget Alert

Several Senate Democrats are criticizing the Defense Department for spending too little, too slowly to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic, but the Pentagon says it intends to send lawmakers a plan today for  using the $10.6 billion in coronavirus relief funds Congress provided in March.

Defense Secretary Mark Esper has ordered the Pentagon to defer $545 million in overseas military construction, including programs that are part of an effort to deter the Russian military in Europe, so the funds can be used to build a wall on the U.S.-Mexico border.

Acting Pentagon Comptroller Elaine McCusker wants to know by May 8 where senior military officials most want to transfer money so their proposals can be vetted and possibly included in the Defense Department's annual omnibus reprogramming request to Congress.

Air Force acquisition executive Will Roper said Thursday he is meeting with Congress twice a week to discuss how to support the service's wide-ranging COVID-19 relief efforts -- from transporting personal protective equipment to mitigating industrial base impact to making it easier for officials to work on classified projects from home.

At the beginning of the year, before the acceleration of the COVID-19 pandemic radically altered American society, Defense Secretary Mark Esper said one of his goals for 2020 was to position the Pentagon for the "irreversible implementation" of the National Defense Strategy and its new focus on great power competition with China and Russia.

House Armed Services Committee Chairman Adam Smith (D-WA) said today he is working to include measures that would help the U.S. defense industrial base in an upcoming COVID-19 stimulus bill being crafted by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA).

Navy acquisition executive Hondo Geurts says he anticipates a "major effort" this summer to correct for programmatic and contractual issues caused by the coronavirus pandemic.

The Senate voted 96-0 to pass a final $2 trillion coronavirus rescue package that would provide an additional $10.5 billion in defense spending.

The Defense Department claims it will recoup nearly $1 billion in fiscal year 2021 through its various "IT cost savings initiatives," as defense officials look to consolidate IT infrastructure and services across the department's "fourth estate" agencies and field activities, according to new budget documents.