The Pentagon’s budget chief urged lawmakers Friday to “return to an orderly budget process” and act to stave off sequestration, saying recent years of budget turmoil on Capitol Hill have been “unprecedented” and resulted in wasted time to plan for “things I hope don’t happen.”
Pentagon Comptroller Robert Hale told a subpanel of the House Armed Services Committee (HASC) that passing continuing resolutions (CRs) while delaying actual budgets, coupled with the looming possibility of sequestration, interfere with efforts to address other priorities, including a congressional mandate ordering the Pentagon to reach full auditing readiness by 2017.
“Dealing with these extraordinary actions is zapping the time we could be spending on other things, including audit readiness,” Hale told HASC’s Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations. “The single biggest thing you can do to help me would be to return to an orderly budget process.”
Congress, amid squabbling between Democrats and Republicans, has yet to pass a budget for the fiscal 2013 year that begins Oct. 1. The House of Representatives earlier this week introduced a CR that would fund the government into March based on slightly increased fiscal 2012 spending levels.
Congress also has not agreed to a 10-year federal spending blueprint as outlined in the Budget Control Act of 2011 designed to rein in the national deficit. That bill mandates indiscriminate cuts across the government–known a sequestration–if Congress cannot submit the federal spending plan by early January.
“In recent years we’ve encountered unprecedented budgetary uncertainty, including no fewer than four shutdown drills for which we planned, and the long-term continuing resolution in fiscal ’11,” Hale said. “It generated time consuming and unproductive planning efforts.”
“Sometimes I think I spend most of my time planning for things I hope don’t happen,” Hale added. “Now we face the prospect of sequestration and yet another long-term continuing resolution.”
Pentagon officials have warned sequestration would be catastrophic for the military and national security.
Hale as well as budget officials from the Army, Navy and Air Force appeared on Capitol Hill to update the subcommittee on the progress being made to achieve full auditing readiness by 2017 required under the National Defense Authorization Act for 2010. The officials assured lawmakers they are on target to meet the timeframe outlined under the law.
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