Sens. John McCain (R-Ariz.) and Jack Reed (D-R.I.), the chairman and ranking member, respectively, of the Senate Armed Services Committee, have asked Defense Secretary James Mattis to explain how the potential return of budget caps in fiscal year 2018 could affect the military.
In a letter released Aug. 30, the senators said that the across-the-board budget cuts required by the Budget Control Act (BCA) of 2011 will return Oct. 1 if Congress does not reach a budget agreement for FY 2018. Passing a continuing resolution (CR) to keep the government running into the new fiscal year would not affect the BCA, they said. 
“In practice, this will result in billions of dollars in cuts to the defense budget from last year’s level – cuts that the Department of Defense can ill afford at a time of diminished readiness, strained modernization, and increasing operations,” the senators wrote.
The senators asked Mattis to provide details by Sept. 8 about the BCA’s potential impact under a three-month and six-month CR.
“Military leaders have time and again warned members of the Senate Armed Services Committee about the negative impacts of starting each fiscal year on a continuing resolution,” the senators wrote. ” As the Senate prepares to consider a continuing resolution for fiscal year 2018, we believe it would be prudent to have a concrete understanding of its impacts on the military.”
Pentagon spokesman Christopher Sherwood declined to comment on the letter, saying DoD’s “response would be to the senators.”
Air Force Secretary Heather Wilson warned Aug. 25 that the return of budget caps could slash flying hours and stymie new programs and munitions purchases (Defense Daily, Aug. 25).
In June, Rep. Adam Smith (D-Wash.), the top Democrat on the House Armed Services Committee, said that while his panel’s FY 2018 defense authorization bill contains $631.5 billion in base budget funding, $28.5 billion above the Trump administration’s request, base funding will be slashed to $549 billion if the BCA caps return (Defense Daily, June 28).