The head of the Senate Armed Services Committee (SASC) said Monday he sees “tremendous controversy” for Congress if lawmakers increase the defense topline while cutting non-defense spending in the upcoming budget cycle.
Sen. Jack Reed (D-R.I.), the SASC chair, offered the comment in response to a question on his view regarding House Republicans’ proposed debt ceiling bill, which looks to cap fiscal year 2024 spending at FY ‘22 levels, with GOP lawmakers having indicated defense could be spared from potential cuts.
“I think one legitimate concern here is that if we’re able to move the defense number up but there is no attempt at all to fund valuable programs for non-defense that’s going to cause a tremendous controversy, to be polite,” Reed said during a Center for New American Security discussion.
Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) last Wednesday officially rolled out House Republicans’ bill to raise the debt limit by $1.5 trillion, which does not appear to explicitly exempt defense from potential reductions if spending is rolled back to FY ‘22 levels (Defense Daily, April 19).
House Republican leaders have previously downplayed the potential for billions of dollars in defense spending cuts as part of such a plan, while Pentagon officials have said the move could lead to a nearly $100 billion topline reduction if the department is included spending cut plans (Defense Daily, Jan. 10).
The House is likely to vote on the debt ceiling bill this week. The legislation is unlikely to pass in the Senate, and the upper chamber will then draft its own proposal.
Reed also cited concern with the potential that a protracted debate over FY ‘24 spending will lead to the Pentagon operating under a long-term continuing resolution, which he said would be “extremely detrimental” for efforts to bolster the defense industrial base and prepare for competition with China.
“First of all, the worst option the Defense Department can face is a continuing resolution and that has been strenuously voiced to us by every commander that’s come before the panel,” Reed said. “We are working, as we always have, collectively with our Republican colleagues on a national defense authorization bill, which would include a topline. That’s got to be negotiated. I think the president sent up a bill that [has a] 3.2 percent overall increase. There are many folks that want to go higher [than the requested topline]. We’ve seen an unfunded priorities list of about $17 billion. So there’s some flexibility, I would hope.”
Army Secretary Christine Wormuth told the House Armed Services Committee last week a long-term CR would delay $5.3 billion worth of procurement programs in its FY ‘24 budget request, impacting “tens of procurement new starts” and dozens of research and development efforts.
Reed noted SASC added $45 billion to the defense topline during last year’s markup of the FY ‘23 National Defense Authorization Act (Defense Daily, June 16 2022).