Trump’s Tariffs May Put Defense Jobs at Risk, Increase Costs

Trump’s Tariffs May Put Defense Jobs at Risk, Increase Costs
Trump’s Tariffs May Put Defense Jobs at Risk, Increase Costs

WASHINGTON: The pushback to President Donald Trump’s global steel and aluminum tariffs — announced Thursday —  has been swift and blunt. Republicans, Democrats, top defense officials, Trump advisors and trade groups have all made public their misgivings, saying the taxes could actually prove harmful to national security, and end up costing the Pentagon money. But…

Navy’s Fixing Itself, Congress Must Fix Budget: Wittman, Courtney

Navy’s Fixing Itself, Congress Must Fix Budget: Wittman, Courtney
Navy’s Fixing Itself, Congress Must Fix Budget: Wittman, Courtney

UPDATED from hearing and House vote WASHINGTON: The Navy is doing a good job addressing the problems revealed by last summer’s fatal collisions at sea, for example by filing criminal charges this week against officers involved, the Republican chairman and ranking Democrat of the House seapower subcommittee say. Now Congress needs to do its part and pass…

Defense Hawks Fight DoD Budget Stopgaps As Shutdown Looms

Defense Hawks Fight DoD Budget Stopgaps As Shutdown Looms
Defense Hawks Fight DoD Budget Stopgaps As Shutdown Looms

UPDATED: Adds SecDef Spox Comment That CRs Are “Damaging” & Mattis Supports Spending Bill CAPITOL HILL: To prevent a government shutdown Dec. 8th, Congress looks likely to pass a stopgap spending bill called a Continuing Resolution. But yet another CR, rather than a proper budget, would do unacceptable damage to the military, defense hawks say. So…

No 350-Ship Navy From This Trump Budget

No 350-Ship Navy From This Trump Budget
No 350-Ship Navy From This Trump Budget

WASHINGTON: All hands, brace for disappointment. The president’s promised naval buildup won’t begin in the 2018 budget out next week — or maybe ever. Sure, before the election, candidate Donald Trump promised a 350-ship Navy. Sure, just this morning, House Speaker Paul Ryan repeated the 350 figure. Sure, this week the Chief of Naval Operations…

HASC Leaders Press To Keep House In Town Til NDAA Passes

HASC Leaders Press To Keep House In Town Til NDAA Passes
HASC Leaders Press To Keep House In Town Til NDAA Passes

UPDATED: Republicans Abandon Spending Bills; McCain Says “Madness Needs To End” WASHINGTON: The defense policy bill, known as the National Defense Authorization Act, is the crowning glory of Congress when it comes to the most fundamental function of the federal government: providing for the common defense. To that end, we understand a letter by Rep. Joe Wilson, chairman…

Trump Will Not Always Get What He Wants From GOP Congress

Trump Will Not Always Get What He Wants From GOP Congress
Trump Will Not Always Get What He Wants From GOP Congress

WASHINGTON: Donald Trump visited the White House this morning for the first time in an official capacity as the initial shock of his election as president of the United States began to wear off. You could tell it was wearing off because Congress already began to remind Trump of the limits of his power. At first, the Republicans…

Memos, Vetos, Spending And Those Elections

Memos, Vetos, Spending And Those Elections
Memos, Vetos, Spending And Those Elections

WASHINGTON: Congress has returned after a week of uncommonly beautiful weather for Washington in late August. But, with all the other miseries that Congress has wrought upon the American people in the last few years, lawmakers appear to have brought the hot and muggy weather back with them. What else might they have brought back? Could…

Obama NDAA Veto Strengthens White House In Budget Talks

Obama NDAA Veto Strengthens White House In Budget Talks
Obama NDAA Veto Strengthens White House In Budget Talks

WASHINGTON: The most intriguing assessment of President Obama’s veto yesterday of the 2016 National Defense Authorization Act comes from a Republican. While Mackenzie Eaglen, defense expert at the American Enterprise Institute, clearly doesn’t think much of Obama’s move — citing “his intransigence at anything less than is being demanded of him” — she also concludes that he’s…

As NDAA Poised For Veto, Ryan Challenges Intransigents

As NDAA Poised For Veto, Ryan Challenges Intransigents
As NDAA Poised For Veto, Ryan Challenges Intransigents

WASHINGTON: What will happen if President Obama vetoes the National Defense Authorization Act? No one really knows. We’ve pinged a number of experienced staff and other experts and no one really knows the likely consequences of a veto. It looks likely that troops will get paid, weapons bought, and operations paid for, albeit at lower…

Ryan-Murray 2.0: The 2016 Defense Budget By The Numbers

Ryan-Murray 2.0: The 2016 Defense Budget By The Numbers
Ryan-Murray 2.0: The 2016 Defense Budget By The Numbers

This week, the Republican Congress is expected to unveil its fiscal year 2016 budget resolution just as House defense authorizers start marking up their annual bill. What will that mean for the US military? Bottom line, the Pentagon should realistically expect no more than $569 billion from Congress in the final, enacted 2016 budget between base…

Budget Deal Proves That Congress CAN Take On Military Pay & Benefits Costs

Budget Deal Proves That Congress CAN Take On Military Pay & Benefits Costs
Budget Deal Proves That Congress CAN Take On Military Pay & Benefits Costs

As bitter as the budget battle has become, there’s no topic more toxic than pay and benefits for military personnel. Pentagon budgeteers and the top brass warn that increasing compensation costs, especially for health care, are growing at an unsustainable pace that threatens every other priority from weapons procurement to combat training. But personnel advocates…

Budget Deal: Does the Pentagon Really Need An Extra $20 Billion?

Budget Deal: Does the Pentagon Really Need An Extra $20 Billion?
Budget Deal: Does the Pentagon Really Need An Extra $20 Billion?

Much of official Washington likes the budget deal struck this week by Sen. Patty Murray and Rep. Paul Ryan, chairs of the two chambers budget committees. No more stupid and debilitating showdowns. No more federal shutdowns. Perhaps Congress can actually do what it is expected to do and pass some spending bills. At least we…

Defense Lawmakers Cautiously Optimistic On Budget Deal – But It’s Just A 1st Step

Defense Lawmakers Cautiously Optimistic On Budget Deal – But It’s Just A 1st Step
Defense Lawmakers Cautiously Optimistic On Budget Deal – But It’s Just A 1st Step

THE NEWSEUM: In a glass-walled conference center overlooking the snow-shrouded US Capitol, three legislators expressed guarded optimism that Congress could reach a modest budget deal. [UPDATED: The chairs of the House and Senate budget committees announced a plan late Tuesday night, but it has yet to pass into law]. That’s the good news. The bad news…

How To Cut The Defense Budget Without Killing The Force

The House passed the second Continuing Resolution of the year today, avoiding the direst scenario that had haunted many in American defense circles. But the CR’s passage does not mean anyone has avoided sequestration, as the mandatory budget cuts are known. And cutting $50 billion a year from the Pentagon budget for the next 10…