After years of officials complaining that budget caps are forcing the Pentagon to make unreasonable cuts, experts on Monday argued that caps should actually remain in place to promote fiscal discipline.

Robert Hale, the former Pentagon comptroller who had to deal with the start of the caps after the Budget Control Act of 2013, said he would leave the caps in place, but that they should be increased to the level requested by the administration in future years. That’s about $30 billion more for defense in fiscal 2018 than the caps set by the Budget Control Act.