Yesterday, the House passed its version of the FY2017 Defense Authorization bill, (H.R.4909) 277-147. In the final vote, 40 Democrats joined 237 Republicans in the affirmative, while only five Republicans along with 142 Democrats voted against passage, House Armed Services Committee Chairman Rep Mac Thornberry (R-TX) said the bill protects U.S. national security by “beginning [...]
Yesterday, the House Appropriations Committee (HAC) approved the FY2017 Department of Defense (DoD) Appropriations bill. The HAC bill would provide $517 billion for the DoD base budget (excluding military construction). Committee chairman Rep. Hal Rogers (R-KY) said the bill “provides the resources needed to keep our military trained and well equipped, to ensure success in [...]
Yesterday, the Senate Armed Services Committee (SASC) approved (23-3) its version of the FY2017 Defense Authorization bill. The bill authorizes force levels, programs, and policies (including military pay raises) for DoD budgets and the programs and policies for the Department of Energy (DoE) nuclear weapons program. Appropriations bills provide actual funding. SASC Chair Sen, John [...]
The Pentagon announced last week that the president has nominated Gen David L. Goldfein to be the next Air Force Chief of Staff. In making the announcement, Department of Defense (DoD) Secretary Ash Carter called Gen Goldfein “one of the most proven strategic thinkers across our joint force.” “Dave’s extensive politico-military experience will be to [...]
Federal agencies will not formally prepare a FY2018 budget in September, according to a memorandum issued last week by Shaun Donovan, Director of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB). Donovan said OMB will “lay the groundwork" for the next budget by gathering “budget and programmatic information from which the incoming administration can develop its budget proposals.” With a [...]
The House Armed Services Committee (HASC) today approved (60-2) the FY2017 Defense Authorization Bill (H.R. 4909). The HASC bill authorizes $543.4 billion for the Department of Defense (DoD) and the Department of Energy (DoE) nuclear weapons program. The authorized amount for the base DoD budget would be $523.6 billion, essentially the same as the president's request. HASC [...]
The total cost of 79 selected Department of Defense (DoD) major acquisition programs increased by $7.0 billion (+.43 percent) in 2015, according to a report issued by DoD last month. The small increase reflects increased planned quantities (+$17.9 billion), higher costs due to engineering changes (+$7.1 billion) and program schedule changes (+$1.3 billon). Offsetting some [...]
The House Armed Services Committee (HASC) will begin to mark up the FY2017 Defense Authorization bill on Wednesday, April 20. The HASC markup schedule calls for three subcommittees to mark up on Wednesday April 20: the Military Personnel Subcommittee (11:30 AM); the Tactical Air and Land Forces Subcommittee (1:30 PM) and the Seapower and Projection [...]
The budget resolution reported out by the House Budget Committee (HBC) on a 20-16 vote would cut the federal deficit by almost $7 trillion over the next 10 years and reach a balanced budget in FY2026, according to the committee. HBC Chairman Rep. Tom Price (R-GA) said the plan would balance the budget through commonsense reforms [...]
Last week, the House Appropriations Military Construction/Veterans Affairs Subcommittee (HAC-MilCon/VA) approved FY2017 funding for Military Construction (included in the total Department of Defense (DoD) budget request) and the Department of Veterans Affairs. The bill now goes to the full appropriations committee for consideration. The MilCon/VA bill is the first FY2017 appropriations bill to advance in [...]