ALL ACCORDING TO PLAN: Both the appropriations and authorization bills needed to fund the government are on track to beat this Friday’s deadline, which unlike last year will avert a disruptive shutdown of the government.
The White House has indicated President Trump will sign both bills when they reach his desk, expected after the Senate passes them later this week. Last year, you will recall, the government was shut down for 35 days while no agreement could be reached with the president.
The House passed two separate packages, one focused on national security, which includes $738 billion for the Pentagon and other defense programs, and another funding domestic agencies. The national security package passed 280-138. The domestic package was approved 297-120.
Meanwhile the Senate gave final approval approve the National Defense Authorization Act by a vote of 86-8, and sent it to President Trump to be signed into law.
CHRISTMAS IN DECEMBER: The massive spending bills, which are expected to add about $500 million to the deficit, contain something for almost everybody, and plenty of gifts for President Trump.
The bills fund Space Force as a separate, sixth branch of the military, overcoming resistance from some parts of the Pentagon, and cementing what will be part of Trump’s legacy. But the Pentagon’s request for $72.4 million to stand up the Space Force was cut almost in half to only $40 million.
Gone are provisions that would have limited Trump’s emergency powers to shift funding from military construction projects to border security projects, would have required a new AUMF (Authorization of Military Force) for ongoing or future military action, and would have barred deployment of low-yield nuclear warheads on U.S. ballistic missile submarines. None of those measures, backed by Democrats, made it into the policy or appropriations bills.
Both military and civilian government workers will get a 3.1% pay raise, the biggest in 10 years. In the past only the military got a full raise, as determined by a formula under federal law.
The Pentagon got a $1.8 billion boost in its budget for acquiring more Lockheed Martin F-35 Joint Strike Fighters, which will allow for the purchase of 20 additional planes in 2020, for a total of 98 aircraft. In addition, the Air Force will get eight Boeing F-15EX fighters, to replace older F-15C’s that are aging out.
A Senate Appropriations Committee summary of the major defense provisions can be found here.
ALL IS NOT BRIGHT: Among all the holiday budget cheer, Rep. Mac Thornberry, the top Republican on the House Armed Services Committee, sounded a cautionary note about the continuing use of stopgap funding measures, or “CRs,” which authorize spending until months into the budget year.
“National security funding was once again held hostage for other partisan priorities, a recurring habit in Washington, and one that has cost our military billions in lost buying power and readiness over the last decade,” said Thornberry in a statement issued after yesterday’s vote.
“While I am pleased that we have averted a full year CR for the military, we cannot ignore the harm we have inflicted on our armed forces to get here,” Thronberry said. “Repeated CR’s are one of the most wasteful and abusive elements of the DOD budget. We cannot expect Pentagon officials to be better stewards of taxpayer resources than Congress is, and we are setting a poor example when we throw away billions for every month we impose a CR. We must do better.”
Subscribe today to the Washington Examiner magazine and get Washington Briefing: politics and policy stories that will keep you up to date with what’s going on in Washington. SUBSCRIBE NOW: Just $1.00 an issue!
Good Wednesday morning and welcome to Jamie McIntyre’s Daily on Defense, written and compiled by Washington Examiner National Security Senior Writer Jamie McIntyre (@jamiejmcintyre) and edited by Susan Katz Keating (@SKatzKeating). Email here with tips, suggestions, calendar items, and anything else. Sign up or read current and back issues at DailyonDefense.com. If signing up doesn’t work, shoot us an email and we’ll add you to our list. And be sure to follow us on Twitter: @dailyondefense.
NOTE TO READERS: Daily on Defense will go on holiday hiatus beginning Dec. 20 and will return to your inbox Jan. 3, 2020.
HAPPENING TODAY: Defense Secretary Mark Esper welcomes India’s Defense Minister Shri Rajnath Singh to the Pentagon with a full armed forces salute at 9:30 a.m.
Esper and Singh then head over to the State Department for a 1:45 p.m. media availability with Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Indian Minister of External Affairs Subrahmanyam Jaishankar.
ALSO TODAY: U.S. Special Representative Stephen Biegun is in Beijing meeting with Chinese officials to discuss “the need to maintain international unity on North Korea,” according to the State Department. Biegun was just in Seoul and Tokyo conferring with U.S. allies as North Korea, unhappy with the lack of sanctions relief, continues to threaten a return to missile testing.
Biegun was reportedly snubbed in Seoul, leaving without a hoped-for meeting with North Korean officials.
MORE NORTH KOREA SANCTIONS: Meanwhile the just-passed 2020 National Defense Authorization Act conference report includes the “Otto Warmbier Banking Restrictions Involving North Korea (BRINK) Act,” which expands mandatory sanctions on foreign banks and companies that facilitate illicit financial transactions for North Korea.
“This bipartisan sanctions legislation will help hold North Korea accountable for their actions and human rights abuses against Cincinnati-native Otto Warmbier as well as others they’ve illegally held captive,” said Ohio Republican Sen. Rob Portman, one of the co-sponsors of the bill.
Portman, along with sponsors Sens. Pat Toomey, Sherrod Brown, and Chris Van Hollen, are holding a news conference this morning with Fred and Cindy Warmbier, Otto’s parents. See calendar below.
KING STALLION HELICOPTER FIXED! The Marine Corps announced yesterday touting the assertion that industry and government engineers had “mitigated ongoing engine integration issues” with the Sikorsky CH-53K King Stallion, the new heavy-lift helicopter for the Marines.
“Bringing together the tiger team exemplifies the importance and purpose of an integrated test team,” program manager Marine Col. Jack Perrin said in the release. “It was great to see the team turn the corner for the program and produce a resolution to an ongoing problem.”
“The CH-53K King Stallion is an all-new heavy-lift helicopter that will expand the Marine Corps’ ability to move more material more rapidly,” said the Marine Corps release. “That power comes from three new General Electric T-408 engines, which are more powerful and more fuel efficient than the T-64 engines currently outfitted on the CH-53E Super Stallion.”
CORRECTION: An earlier version of this story included a Bloomberg report about ongoing problems with the King Stallion helicopter program, that had been provided by a Bloomberg reporter. Due to computer glitch, Bloomberg mistakenly sent a year-old story. The correct Bloomberg story, “Flaw With Lockheed’s $31 Billion Marine Copter Solved, U.S. Says,” can be found here. We regret the error.
The Rundown
Washington Examiner: Russian spy ship operating in ‘unsafe manner’ off US coast
New York Times: China Commissions 2nd Aircraft Carrier
Los Angeles Times: China Pivots To Mideast As U.S. Retreats
AP: Russia Eyes Major Commercial Projects In Syria
Reuters: Seoul, Washington Fail To Agree On Cost Of U.S. Troops As Deal Set To Expire
Defense News: North Korean ‘Christmas Gift’ To The U.S. Could Be A Long-Range Ballistic Missile Test
USNI News: Report: Fight Against China Requires Navy to Field Modern Unmanned Eyes In The Sky
Breaking Defense: Pentagon AI Efforts Disorganized: RAND
Navy Times: Questions Mount About How Saudi Gunman Bought Murder Weapon
Bloomberg: Lockheed’s $31 Billion King Stallion Helicopter Delayed by New Flaws
Reuters: U.S. Congress Pressures Trump To Renew Russia Arms Control Pact
Military.com: Congress Wants the Pentagon to Make a Plan to Close All Remaining Burn Pits
Forbes: The U.S. Navy’s New Orca Drone Submarine Could Get Offensive Role
Washington Post: Voices from the war in Afghanistan
POGO: Adding up the Cost of Our Never-Ending Wars
Washington Post: Judge grants government proceeds from Edward Snowden’s book
Washington Examiner: ‘Perspective of the German’: Army posted photo of Nazi to commemorate Battle of the Bulge
Annapolis Capital Gazette: Navy Denies Noah Song’s Request To Play Pro Baseball
Calendar
WEDNESDAY | DECEMBER 18
10 a.m. 1775 Massachusetts Ave, N.W. — Brookings Institution discussion with retired Air Force Gen. Lori Robinson, former commander of USNORTHCOM, on current national security challenges and the need for diverse public servants in meeting them, with Michael O’Hanlon, senior fellow at Brookings. https://www.brookings.edu/events
11 a.m. S211 Capitol — News conference on the “Otto Warmbier North Korea Nuclear Sanctions and Enforcement Act,” which is a part of the final NDAA, with Sen. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., Sen. Pat Toomey, R-Pa., Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, and Sen. Rob Portman, R-Ohio, as well as Fred and Cindy Warmbier, whose son Otto died after being imprisoned in North Korea for over a year.
THURSDAY | DECEMBER 19
2 p.m. 1030 15th St. N.W. — Atlantic Council discussion on “The future of Nord Stream 2 and TurkStream: The impact of sanctions legislation,” with former U.S. Ambassador to Poland Daniel Fried; former U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine John Herbst; former U.S. Ambassador to Azerbaijan Richard Morningstar; and Melinda Haring, deputy director of the Atlantic Council Eurasia Center. https://www.atlanticcouncil.org/event
QUOTE OF THE DAY
“Repeated CRs are one of the most wasteful and abusive elements of the DOD budget. We cannot expect Pentagon officials to be better stewards of taxpayer resources than Congress is, and we are setting a poor example when we throw away billions for every month we impose a CR. We must do better.”
Texas Rep. Mac Thornberry, ranking member of the House Armed Services Committee, warning that the repeated use of stopgap Continuing Resolutions are costing the Pentagon billions in lost buying power.
