The House passed a long-delayed defense budget bill yesterday that is intended to help the Pentagon manage the new “sequestration” cuts, sending the legislation to the Senate for scrutiny by skeptical Democrats.
The budget measure–a FY ’13 continuing resolution (CR) funding most of the government at FY ’12 levels that includes full defense and military-construction appropriations bills–cleared the Republican-led House with a 267-151 vote. The legislation would keep the $46 billion in defense sequestration cuts in place from March 1 to Sept. 30, but shift around Pentagon funding and allow both reprogrammings and new program starts during that time.
Republicans including House Armed Services Committee (HASC) Chairman Howard “Buck” McKeon (R-Calif.) hailed the CR as vital for helping the Pentagon deal with the double whammy of sequestration and a constricting CR. That existing resolution, in place since Oct. 1, has funded the Pentagon near FY ’12 levels and forced it to take steps such as delaying the overhaul and construction of aircraft carriers.
McKeon explained that the new legislation would allow the military service chiefs to cancel programs already axed by Congress in the defense authorization act, while also restoring some of the shortfalls in operations and maintenance accounts and training and flying hours. With a full defense appropriations bill in place, the Navy could keep a carrier-strike group and an amphibious-ready group in the Middle East and Pacific through next fiscal year, he said.
“This legislation does not solve sequestration, but it gives our commanders some much-needed flexibility and gives us time to work on a House budget that restores funding for our military,” McKeon said on the House floor.
Still, the new CR garnered scant support yesterday from House Democrats, who faulted it for possibly locking in sequestration cuts and not giving budgeting leeway to agencies beyond the Pentagon. Similar concerns are being voiced by Democrats in the Senate, where Appropriations Committee Chairwoman Barbara Mikulski (D-Md.) is crafting an alternative CR that she said would address domestic issues including as science-and-technology jobs.
Despite their differences, House and Senate leaders said they expect to craft a final FY ‘13 budget measure before the current CR expires March 27. President Barack Obama is expected to sign the new CR–and prevent a government shutdown–even though his Office of Management and Budget (OMB) said his administration is “deeply concerned” with the House version (Defense Daily, March 6).
The 137 Democrats who voted against the new CR yesterday include HASC Ranking Member Adam Smith (D-Wash.) and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.).
House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) called for House Democrats to reject the CR, saying it “does nothing to address the irrational cuts” of sequestration, which if it continues will tap $1.2 trillion in defense and non-defense spending over a decade.
“It could be very harmful to our economy and to our national security, and places the most-vulnerable in America at great risk,” Hoyer said before the vote.
House Appropriations Committee Chairman Hal Rogers (R-Ky.) reiterated the House GOP leadership argument that they have offered multiple proposals to stop sequestration, which started March 1, and the next steps should come from Senate Democrats and Obama. Congress and the White House have been unable to reach an agreement on an alternative deficit-cutting plan to stop sequestration, with Republicans leaders rejecting Democrats’ calls for new revenues after they just agreed to raise taxes on wealthy Americans in January.
The House CR includes a $518.1 billion base defense budget for FY ‘13, which is the same as the FY ’12 level and $2 billion more than the Pentagon previously requested. The bill would change funding levels closer to what the Pentagon may need in FY ’13, and includes $10.4 billion in additional operation and maintenance funding compared to the FY ’12 levels. That boost is offset with reductions including $4.2 billion less for procurement $2.5 billion less for research and development funding.