Austin: Temp Budget Bad for Military   09/09 06:04

   Passage of a six-month temporary spending bill would have widespread and 
devastating effects on the Defense Department, Pentagon chief Lloyd Austin said 
in a letter to key members of Congress on Sunday.

   WASHINGTON (AP) -- Passage of a six-month temporary spending bill would have 
widespread and devastating effects on the Defense Department, Pentagon chief 
Lloyd Austin said in a letter to key members of Congress on Sunday.

   Austin said that passing a continuing resolution that caps spending at 2024 
levels, rather than taking action on the proposed 2025 budget will hurt 
thousands of defense programs, and damage military recruiting just as it is 
beginning to recover after the COVID-19 pandemic.

   "Asking the department to compete with (China), let alone manage conflicts 
in Europe and the Middle East, while under a lengthy CR, ties our hands behind 
our back while expecting us to be agile and to accelerate progress," said 
Austin in the letter to leaders of the House and Senate appropriations 
committees.

   Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson has teed up a vote this week on a bill 
that would keep the federal government funded for six more months. The measure 
aims to garner support from his more conservative GOP members by also requiring 
states to obtain proof of citizenship, such as a birth certificate or passport, 
when registering a person to vote.

   Congress needs to approve a stop-gap spending bill before the end of the 
budget year on Sept. 30 to avoid a government shutdown just a few weeks before 
voters go to the polls and elect the next president.

   Austin said the stop-gap measure would cut defense spending by more than $6 
billion compared to the 2025 spending proposal. And it would take money from 
key new priorities while overfunding programs that no longer need it.

   Under a continuing resolution, new projects or programs can't be started. 
Austin said that passing the temporary bill would stall more than $4.3 billion 
in research and development projects and delay 135 new military housing and 
construction projects totaling nearly $10 billion.

   It also would slow progress on a number of key nuclear, ship-building, 
high-tech drone and other weapons programs. Many of those projects are in an 
array of congressional districts, and could also have an impact on local 
residents and jobs.

   Since the bill would not fund legally required pay raises for troops and 
civilians, the department would have to find other cuts to offset them. Those 
cuts could halt enlistment bonuses, delay training for National Guard and 
Reserve forces, limit flying hours and other training for active-duty troops 
and impede the replacement of weapons and other equipment that has been pulled 
from Pentagon stocks and sent to Ukraine.

   Going forward with the continuing resolution, said Austin, will "subject 
service members and their families to unnecessary stress, empower our 
adversaries, misalign billions of dollars, damage our readiness, and impede our 
ability to react to emergent events."

   Noting that there have been 48 continuing resolutions during 14 of the last 
15 fiscal years -- for a total of nearly 1,800 days -- Austin said Congress 
must break the pattern of inaction because the U.S. military can't compete with 
China "with our hands tied behind our back every fiscal year."

   Johnson's bill is not expected to get support in the Democratic-controlled 
Senate, if it even makes it that far. But Congress will have to pass some type 
of temporary measure by Sept. 30 in order to avoid a shutdown.