Congress is hoping to get its first look at the fiscal 2017 supplemental defense spending request shortly after returning from a President’s Day break, the top Republican on the House Armed Services Committee told reporters on Thursday.
The supplemental spending request is due to the Office of Management and Budget by March 1, but Rep. Mac Thornberry, R-Texas, said that’s also the “target date” for the committee he chairs to see what defense priorities the Trump administration will fund.
“The fiscal year is marching ahead, so to have any hope of spending the money efficiently, we need to get it done quickly,” Thornberry said. “So we have encouraged them to get that to us by March 1 … and got a pretty positive response.”
Thornberry said the supplemental should start by funding the priorities he included in an $18 billion increase to defense spending for the fiscal 2017 defense authorization bill that did not make it into the final version after negotiations with the Senate. That extra money was slated to restore readiness, including funding for more troops, training and maintenance.
Congress’ inability to pass a fiscal 2017 budget has left the federal government, including the Defense Department, operating under a continuing resolution through April 28 that is funding everything at fiscal 2016 levels. When the continuing resolution expires, less than half the fiscal year will remain, leading some to wonder if Congress will force the government to operate under a year-long continuing resolution.
But Thornberry said a year-long continuing resolution for the Pentagon will not pass the House because there are enough members, including those on the House Armed Services Committee, who see the dire readiness levels plaguing the military and will refuse to cap spending at the previous year’s level.
