The top Democrat of the Senate Armed Services Committee warned Thursday that unless Congress can agree on another two-year compromise to lift budget caps, it may be impossible to pass a Pentagon budget on time.
“I believe Congress should pass another two-year budget agreement to provide further relief from the caps and provide stability for budget planning,” said Sen. Jack Reed, D-R.I., “Without such an agreement, we will face great difficulty in crafting a biparistan authorization bill and will be hard pressed to provide the Defense Department with another on time appropriation.”
Military leaders have uniformly testified that getting a budget on time, and avoiding stop-gap spending plan, is the single most important factor in rebuilding readiness.
It was a theme echoed in testimony by both Acting Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan and Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Joseph Dunford.
“I caution that no adversary can be as damaging to our military readiness as budgetary instability,” said Shanahan as he testified in support of President Trump’s $750 billion defense budget.
The biggest stumbling block to agreement on defense funding is the administration’s proposal to put nearly $100 billion of Pentagon’s base budget into an account that is designed for one-time war costs, something Democrats say is a nonstarter.
Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., say while he favors a two-year deal like the one reached in 2017, he fears the Congress is heading for passage of a continuing resolution that could delay funding that the Pentagon says would affect its ability to do long-term planning and make cost-effective acquisition decisions.
