The White House’s budget chief will testify before the House Armed Services Committee (HASC) next month about potential defense budget reductions after the panel’s chairman prodded the administration to share more details on the so-called sequestration cuts, a spokesman said.
The agreement by Jeffrey Zients, acting director of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), to field questions from frustrated HASC Republicans on Aug. 1 is a victory for panel chairman Howard “Buck” McKeon (R-Calif.).
McKeon is among the more vocal voices on Capitol Hill calling for President Barack Obama’s administration to spell out the consequences of allowing the nine-year sequestration cuts to start next January, and explain how varied defense accounts would be reduced. The spending reductions could come as a result of the Budget Control Act of 2011. If lawmakers do not craft an alternate plan, they are slated to reduce planned defense spending by $500 billion over the decade.
President Barack Obama and Defense Secretary Leon Panetta oppose the sequestration cuts, which include non-defense spending and total $1.2 trillion, and want lawmakers to craft an alternate deficit-cutting plan. Panetta insists the Pentagon has done no contingency planning for sequestration. However, OMB is reportedly conducting some analysis as a precursor to actually planning for sequestration with the Department of Defense and other impacted agencies.
McKeon (R-Calif.) had sent a letter to Zients on June 27 requesting he testify on July 18 about the impacts of the sequestration cuts on defense spending. Zients agreed to testify before the HASC on Aug. 1 during a hearing that will include “senior defense officials,” HASC spokesman Claude Chafin told Defense Daily yesterday.
McKeon argued in his June 27 letter that “it is appropriate to provide information to members of Congress, industry, and the public about the administration’s interpretation of the law and how sequestration would be implemented mechanically.” The HASC chairman maintained that at “a minimum, this information is critical for planning, and perhaps the additional insight into the realities of sequestration will incentivize all parties to offer alternative deficit reduction plans.”
Republican lawmakers have pressed Obama’s administration to describe to Congress how the defense share of the cuts would be made at the Pentagon. The Senate adopted an amendment to the so-called farm bill last month from McCain and Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.) requiring multiple levels of disclosure on the sequestration cuts, including a report from the Pentagon by Aug. 15 on their impact.
While the cuts are designed to be across-the-board, some aspects of the Pentagon budget are exempt. The Budget Control Act of 2011 calls for the sequestration cuts to trim the same percentage from every applicable defense program, project, and activity.