Congress Traded Operations & Maintenance For Modernization In 19 Appropriations

Congress Traded Operations & Maintenance For Modernization In 19 Appropriations
Congress Traded Operations & Maintenance For Modernization In 19 Appropriations

Now that President Trump has signed the fiscal 2019 defense appropriations bill — marking the first time in nine years that defense is not bound by a Continuing Resolution — the broad trend was cuts to Operational and Maintenance (O&M) to fund Research, Development, Testing, & Engineering (RDT&E). The top line was consistent with the…

Trump Proffers Pentagon Specifics: $60B More To Boost Troops, Ships

Trump Proffers Pentagon Specifics: $60B More To Boost Troops, Ships
Trump Proffers Pentagon Specifics: $60B More To Boost Troops, Ships

When Donald Trump discussed his defense program in Philadelphia on Wednesday, the bluster and lunacy of the primary season were gone and he offered a scripted position paper that reflected (mostly) mainstream Republican ideas. There is still lots one might disagree with, but the discipline of the teleprompter meant that he read a staff-prepared paper that put…

HASC Chair Signals Push For More OCO Funding

HASC Chair Signals Push For More OCO Funding
HASC Chair Signals Push For More OCO Funding

WASHINGTON: None of us knows many details about what’s in the last of the Obama defense budgets, but House Republicans are criticizing the sketchy outlines of the 2017 budget offered by Defense Secretary Ash Carter today. In particular, House Armed Services Committee Chairman Mac Thornberry is raising concerns that the Pentagon is not asking Congress…

Budget Deal Shows Obama Hypocrisy On NDAA Veto

Budget Deal Shows Obama Hypocrisy On NDAA Veto
Budget Deal Shows Obama Hypocrisy On NDAA Veto

This week Congress should pass the 2016 defense authorization bill –again. It will be virtually identical to the one that President Obama vetoed just weeks ago.  The only change: a $5 billion reduction in costs so it complies with the budget deal reached last week. But passage of the up-dated authorization is no done deal. If Mr.…