Defense Budget Alert

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Despite the Navy's efforts to convince lawmakers to make major investments in unmanned technology, House appropriators are proposing funding cuts for several high-profile programs in their fiscal year 2020 defense spending bill.

The GOP-led Senate Armed Services Committee, as expected, has approved $750 billion in total defense spending for fiscal year 2020, according to a summary of the panel’s authorization bill.

The House Appropriations Committee is poised to pass a fiscal year 2020 defense spending bill Tuesday that would rescind more than $3 billion from major weapon system programs.