Defense Budget Alert

A Senate panel today marked up its version of the fiscal year 2020 defense spending bill in accordance with a bipartisan budget deal, appropriating $622 billion in base spending, $70.7 billion in Overseas Contingency Operations and $1.7 billion in emergency funding.

The Air Force's fiscal year 2021 budget submission has been shaped by a vigorous planning and programming process -- similar to the Army's infamous "Night Court" -- aimed at assuring the service's proposed investments align with the National Defense Strategy.

The White House has sent a 21-page list of "anomalies" to Congress seeking exemptions for a variety of federal spending priorities -- including the establishment of a Space Development Agency, continued development of hypersonic weapons and new background investigations -- in the likely event lawmakers pass a stopgap continuing resolution.

The Defense Department says its ongoing reform efforts have saved or are expected to save $18.4 billion between fiscal years 2017 and 2020, but the Government Accountability Office says DOD can't prove it.

Defense Secretary Mark Esper today heralded a new internal budget review as a chance for the Pentagon to "make tough decisions" that better align resources with the National Defense Strategy, which calls for greater focus on China and Russia.

The Defense Department in mid-July requested authority from Congress to shift nearly $1 billion to address "unforeseen military requirements," but lawmakers approved a transfer of only $670 million, according to a new Pentagon budgetary reprogramming document.

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.

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.

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.