Sen. Jack Reed (D-RI), who recently became chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, told Inside Defense in an exclusive and wide-ranging interview he wants to continue to see the Defense Department "transform" to counter China and prepare for the challenges of the 21st century, though he made it clear that transformation will likely need to occur amid downward budget pressure.
Defense Budget Alert
February 10, 2021
Two Senate committees this week weighing the nomination of Neera Tanden, who has been tapped to run the White House Office of Management and Budget, spent little to no time discussing national security issues, but she did provide one panel with a written statement with her views on defense spending.
February 2, 2021
Acting Navy Secretary Tom Harker said Tuesday that the outgoing Trump administration's fiscal year 2022 budget draft features a "very aggressive" focus on shipbuilding, but said the Navy is waiting for input from Biden administration officials before submitting its budget request to Congress.
February 2, 2021
Kathleen Hicks, nominated for deputy defense secretary, told lawmakers today she believes that, if confirmed, helping to craft a defense budget will be among her biggest challenges as former President Trump's outgoing Pentagon team did not cooperate during the presidential transition.
February 1, 2021
If confirmed as deputy defense secretary, Kathleen Hicks will wield significant influence over the Pentagon budget and strategy, an area where she has established a long public record as a think tank analyst.
January 28, 2021
Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin is reviewing the fiscal year 2022 budget, evaluating work the Trump administration left behind, so a request can be ready to submit to Congress in the next three months.
January 25, 2021
Gen. John Murray, the leader of Army Futures Command, remains optimistic that the Army's modernization priorities could still be accomplished if Pentagon budgets are cut.
January 21, 2021
The Defense Department has only obligated around 40% of the $3.6 billion in military construction funds former President Trump seized to build a wall on the U.S.-Mexico border, according to a government document, raising questions about how the new Biden administration, which has halted the wall project, could return the money to the Pentagon.
December 22, 2020
The Pentagon and Congress have yet to fully reckon with the costs the COVID-19 pandemic may have imposed on the U.S. defense industrial base, including the roughly $11 billion defense officials tell lawmakers is needed to rectify the situation.
December 21, 2020
Congress has agreed to a $2.3 trillion omnibus package for fiscal year 2021 that includes $900 billion in pandemic relief funds.
December 15, 2020
President Trump has asserted several times he plans to veto the $740.5 billion defense authorization bill, which, according to the law, he must do by Dec. 23, positioning himself for a confrontation with Congress during the final weeks of his presidency.
December 11, 2020
The Army would be forced to dial back modest end strength increases planned for the near-term in order to help finance a lame-duck proposal by the Trump administration to dramatically increase the size of the Navy fleet, a move that would shave 1,700 troops from a planned increase of 6,700 -- a 25% decrement between fiscal years 2021 and 2022.
December 7, 2020
House Armed Services Committee Chairman Adam Smith (D-WA) said today Democrats and Republicans in Congress have the votes necessary to override President Trump if he vetoes the fiscal year 2021 defense authorization bill.
December 7, 2020
Rep. Mac Thornberry (TX), the top Republican on the House Armed Services Committee, said today the "message has been conveyed" to the White House that Congress will be prepared to override President Trump should he make good on threats to veto the fiscal year 2021 defense authorization bill.
December 3, 2020
House and Senate negotiators today released a final version of the $740.5 billion fiscal year 2021 defense authorization bill that President Trump has threatened to block.
December 2, 2020
The House and Senate are ready to proceed with a defense authorization bill that could draw a veto from President Trump because it includes a measure to remove the names of Confederate leaders from U.S. military bases and does not include a repeal of legal immunity for social media companies, according to lawmakers and staffers.
December 2, 2020
Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark Milley said today the Pentagon should expect flat or reduced budgets in the coming years and should consider cutting U.S. troop presence overseas to save money.
December 1, 2020
The outgoing Trump administration opposes several measures in the Senate version of the fiscal year 2021 defense spending bill, including proposed cuts to experimental weapons programs, according to a new letter from the White House Office of Management and Budget.
November 17, 2020
The top Republican on the House Armed Services Committee said today he is concerned that "political calculations" over renaming military bases currently honoring Confederate leaders, along with two U.S. Senate election runoffs in Georgia, are threatening to scuttle the annual defense policy bill that has passed for 59 consecutive years.
November 10, 2020
The Senate Appropriations Committee has expressed support for Marine Corps Commandant Gen. David Berger's force design initiatives in the panel's version of the fiscal year 2021 defense spending bill.