Defense Budget Alert

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.

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.

The Senate Appropriations Committee today proposed legislation that would allocate nearly $1.7 billion in emergency supplemental funding to support recovery efforts at Tyndall Air Force Base, FL, and Offutt AFB, NE.

The absence of a broad budget deal in Congress is being highlighted by the release of a White House letter opposing the defense spending bill crafted by House Democrats.

This week, for the first time in 10 years, the Senate Armed Services Committee will be marking up its version of the defense authorization bill ahead of its House counterpart, a timing shakeup that has distinct pros and cons for lawmakers, according to former congressional staffers.

The Defense Department is laying the groundwork for a fiscal year 2021 budget request that would prop up its base budget by plowing $65 billion previously forecast as war spending into routine appropriation accounts, including nearly $20 billion for weapons investment, repeating a central strategy of the Trump administration's FY-20 budget request.

Congressional committees are preparing to consider defense spending and authorization bills this month, but lawmakers have yet to reach a bipartisan budget deal to avert sequestration.

The new National Defense Strategy calls for “urgent change at a significant scale” to reposition the U.S. military for global competitions with China and Russia, but the Defense Department lacks a sound strategic analysis process to drive the tough budget decisions likely required for major transformation, according to the Government Accountability Office and former Pentagon officials who spent years crafting national security policy.

The Air Force's new strategy for science and technology may cause changes in its fiscal year 2020 budget, according to the service's research and development lead.