By Emelie Rutherford
Pentagon leaders warned Senate appropriators yesterday that multiple defense initiatives– including buying unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs)–would be jeopardized if Congress skips over passing a base defense appropriations budget for next fiscal year, as has been rumored on Capitol Hill.
At the Senate Appropriations defense subcommittee’s (SAC-D) budget hearing members also relayed concerns about Air Force tactical air and tanker programs to Defense Secretary Robert Gates and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Adm. Michael Mullen.
Senate Appropriations Committee (SAC) Ranking Member Sen. Thad Cochran (R-Miss.) asked Gates and Mullen on what would happen if Congress defers consideration of the FY ’09 defense appropriations bill–a move Cochran indicated he would not support.
House Appropriations Committee (HAC) Chairman John Murtha (D-Pa.) has said multiple times in recent weeks that there is a “50-50” chance that there will be a FY ’09 defense appropriations bill, pointing to time appropriators are spending on the war supplemental bill.
Gates, at yesterday’s SAC-D hearing on the FY ’09 base defense appropriations bill, said he “was very concerned when I read that there may not be an FY ’09-base budget.”
If Congress instead passes a continuing resolution, he said, the Defense Department (DoD) would “not have access to” requested FY ’09 funds for buying 14 new Predator unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). Gates said DoD also would “lose” $8.7 billion for growing the Army and the Marine Corps–because DoD can only spend in a FY ’09 continuing resolution what it spent in FY ’08. Gates said DoD also would lose $246 million to stand up the new Africa Command, $1.8 billion for base-realignment efforts, $1 billion “on search and rescue and mobility.”
“Anything in which there is more money in the budget for reconstitution, for rebuilding our forces, for improving readiness, any increment between the ’08 and ’09 budget would be lost under a continuing resolution,” Gates said.
Mullen likewise warned of “consequences of great significance” if Congress does not pass a FY ’09 base defense appropriations bill.
“As a former service chief who has had to go through multiple … deadlines like this, it brings the organization almost to a halt,” said Mullen, the former Chief of Naval Operations. “And then when you get to execute, you execute very inefficient, very late contracts, which, in fact, is a significant waste of money.”
“If [money] comes late it has devastating impacts on the ability to execute, not even to speak to new programs,” Mullen added.
Cochran said he worries “that the Congress is becoming an impediment to the efficiency and to the capability of our government and our Department of Defense.”
“All of us are going to be at risk in some way because of the slowdown and slow-walking of the appropriations process by the United States Congress,” the senator said.
At the budget hearing Sen. Patty Murry (D-Wash.) also quizzed Gates about the Air Force’s contested aerial refueling tanker contract award–of which she has been an outspoken critic–to a Northrop Grumman [NOC]-European Aeronautic Defense and Space Co. (EADS) team over and Boeing [BA].
She argued the Air Force added requirements to the tanker, before the contract award, without required analysis. She pointed to two Government Accountability Office (GAO) reports she said support this assertion.
“The only comment that I would make, because I am far from expert on this subject, is that I look forward to the completion of the GAO response to the protest that was filed, to see how they come out on it,” Gates said, referring to Boeing’s contract protest.
Murray asked Gates if Congress should look at changing the law so DoD looks at factors beyond technology, cost and capability when assessing defense program proposals.
“My only caution in changing the law is that all of our companies sell a lot of equipment to other countries, and so I think we need to be very careful about how we limit access and bidding and the criteria we take into account, because what we gain over here we may lose over there,” Gates said.
Sen. Christopher Bond (R-Mo.)–a proponent of building more of Boeing’s F-15 fourth-generation fighters–grilled Gates and Mullen on a projected shortfall in the Air Force’s tactical air capability, and rising cost of buying the forthcoming fifth-generation Joint Strike Fighter (JSF).
Bond called for the Air Force to develop a “plan B,” like the Navy has, for extending the life of existing fighters.
“It seems to me that it is time for the Defense Department and the Air Force to come up with a plan to keep…upgraded legacy aircraft in production so that our fine pilots will have something to fly,” Bond said. He asked what is being done to address the Air Force’s projected fighter gap.
Mullen said he shares Bond’s concern about “the tactical air community, writ large.” and pointed out the JSF is coming.
While Mullen said he is concerned about a F-15 fighter that fell apart in flight last year, he reiterated: “I think it’s very important to get to the Joint Strike Fighter as soon as we can.”
Bond argued DoD could “solve some of the shortfall problems” by buying upgraded versions of the F-15 and Lockheed Martin’s F-16.
Mullen, however, noted, “We actually don’t have a very good history of upgrading airplanes” and that it’s been difficult to add modernization money for tactical aircraft to budgets.
In addition, Senate appropriators “will be looking at” adding funds to the FY ’09 base defense bill for continuing the F-22 line past FY ’10, SAC-D Chairman Daniel Inouye (D- Hawaii) said after yesterday’s hearing.
“We should be ready for some recommendations in about three weeks,” Inouye said.
Asked if he has a stance on continuing the F-22 line, the SAC-D chairman said, “Well I think we need some stealth, but it depends on what the military folks want.”
The Pentagon did not request any money for continuing the F-22 line, but also did not seek funds to shut it down, Mullen noted during the hearing.
“I’ve had a concern for some time about…how far we go with the F- 22 program. It’s a very expensive airplane,” Mullen said.
He said he’s “comfortable that we at least left a F-22 line open and that it’s open to be determined whether that should continue in 2010.”
The SAC-D will hold a hearing on the FY ’09 defense budget on June 4, where public witnesses will testify, Inouye said.