The shape of the defense budget should come into focus this week, as more Pentagon officials head to Capitol Hill to defend their requests to lawmakers.
They’ll face a faction of sympathetic lawmakers who believe that the $59 billion requested in war funding should be the minimum, not the maximum.
A staffer on the House Budget Committee said discussions between Chairman Tom Price and House Armed Services Committee Chairman Mac Thornberry are ongoing about both the base spending for defense and the amount that goes into a war fund.
The Balanced Budget Act of 2015 set base defense spending at $551 billion for fiscal 2017. The president’s request for fiscal 2017 also includes the $59 billion in war spending, but even that leaves the military about $18 billion short of its estimated needs from last year, before the mission in Afghanistan was extended and tensions with China and Russia grew.
The budget committee staffer said the amount in the war chest will be addressed in the committee’s deal.
Defense News reported last week that the committee is working out a deal that would include $574 billion base defense spending, but not set a definite number for wartime spending.
Several service leaders appeared on Capitol Hill last week to explain where their services are falling short. Air Force Secretary Deborah Lee James told lawmakers that the service is struggling to meet the demand for drones with a limited number of pilots, driven away from the career choice by poor quality of life.
The leader of the Navy, Adm. John Richardson, also told the Senate that he expects the Navy will need more than the predicted 308 ships as threats grow.
In their wish lists to Congress, released last week, the Army and Navy said modernizing and procurement of aircraft, as well as getting more training and flight hours for troops, are top priorities not funded by the administration’s request.
These conversations continue this week. Pentagon comptroller Michael McCord will be at the Center for Strategic and International Studies on Monday to talk about the strategic outlook of the military’s fiscal 2017 budget request.
Now that each of the services has presented its overarching budget request to Capitol Hill, this week sees congressional committees dive into specifics, including hearings on how Air Force modernization, military personnel posture and access to space are all funded in the president’s fiscal 2017 request.
This month, Defense Secretary Ash Carter, Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Joseph Dunford and McCord head to the Senate Armed Services Committee to testify on the Pentagon’s budget posture.
