By Emelie Rutherford
Plans for the Pentagon’s current-year budget became murkier yesterday when House Republicans said they wanted to cut the White House’s federal budget proposal by $26 billion more than they previously planned, rendering it even less likely to pass the Democratic Senate.
House Appropriations Committee (HAC) Chairman Hal Rogers (R-Ky.) said yesterday his panel now wants to trim President Barack Obama’s proposed budget for fiscal year 2011, which started last Oct. 1, by $100 billion, instead of the $74 billion reduction it had planned just the day before.
Thus, in a change of course, the HAC did not unveil yesterday the details of its FY ’11 continuing resolution (CR) funding the Pentagon and rest of the government through Sept. 30. The details of the HAC’s proposed $13.2 billion in cuts to Obama’s FY ’11 Pentagon proposal, therefore, remained under wraps.
The HAC is not expected to increase the amount of that Pentagon cut under its new $100 billion-reducing plan, because the added $26 billion in reductions are said to be for unspecified non-security spending.
Rogers changed course yesterday and agreed to seek the $100 billion in overall cuts after fiscally conservative members of the Republican House caucus insisted on the larger reduction.
“After meeting with my subcommittee chairs, we have determined that the CR can and will reach a total of $100 billion in cuts compared to the president’s request immediately– fully meeting the goal outlined in the Republican ‘Pledge to America’ in one fell swoop,” Rogers said in a statement yesterday. “Our intent is to make deep but manageable cuts in nearly every area of government, leaving no stone unturned and allowing no agency or program to be held sacred. I have instructed my committee to include these deeper cuts, and we are continuing to work to complete this critical legislation.”
The timing for formally introducing the new CR was “unclear” yesterday, though it could happen this week, HAC spokeswoman Jennifer Hing said.
House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) told reporters yesterday he still plans for the House to debate the CR next week. The federal government is running under a temporary CR for FY ’11, which maintains funding at FY ’10 levels, that expires March 4.
Though Senate Democrats have balked at the House GOP’s proposed FY ’11 cuts, Boehner stood his ground yesterday.
“We are working with our members and our committee chairmen to make sure that this cut is as big as possible to send a signal that we’re serious about cutting spending here in Washington,” Boehner said at his weekly press conference.
Rogers on Wednesday announced some of the cuts in his previous $74 billion-cutting plan. Those reductions included $379 million from Obama’s NASA proposal.
The HAC last week called for cutting Obama’s proposed FY ’11 security spending by $16 billion, which breaks down to $13.2 billion from the Pentagon, $1.1 billion from the Department of Homeland Security, and $1.3 billion from military construction and veterans’ affairs.
Some Democrats favor a full-year CR for FY ’11 that maintains FY ’10 spending. Officials in the Pentagon and defense industry are alarmed about the prospect of the FY ’11 defense budget remaining at FY ’10 levels, a scenario that would result in budget cuts and prevent new contracts and programs from starting.
The Pentagon’s acquisition shop has been compiling a list of key contract items from the military services as it determines which industry partnerships can be terminated if the Pentagon has to operate for the rest of FY ’11 under a CR maintaining FY ’10 funding (Defense Daily, Feb. 10). Planned aircraft, vehicle, submarine, and ship contracts would be delayed if Congress passes such a CR.