December 22, 2017
Lawmakers face defense funding fight in the new year
Source: Stars and Stripes
Journalist: Claudia Grisales
WASHINGTON – The budget instabilities that plagued a challenged military in 2017 won’t end with New Year’s celebrations.
Instead, lawmakers have delayed a defense funding fight to January, after averting a government shutdown by passing a short-term budget deal just ahead of a Friday deadline.
The new, four-week funding measure approved Thursday evening has drawn the ire of several military veterans on Capitol Hill who voiced concerns ahead of the Christmas holiday. The new stopgap funding will run out Jan. 19.
“This sort of governing-by-crisis that harms our national security and hurts veterans has to stop. I didn’t spend 23 years in the military, going through multiple deployments, just to weaken our nation so that a bunch of politicians can go home early for the holidays,” said Sen. Tammy Duckworth, D-Ill., a former Black Hawk helicopter pilot who lost both legs in the war in Iraq. “Our servicemembers in danger overseas today don’t get to go home for Christmas — they have to do their jobs protecting our nation.”
Read the full article here.
Authors
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Susanna V. Blume
Former Senior Fellow and Director, Defense Program
Susanna Blume is a former Senior Fellow and Director of the Defense Program at the Center for a New American Security. Her research areas included the Defense program and budg...
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Lauren Fish
Former Research Associate, Defense Program
Lauren Fish is a former Research Associate with the Defense Program and Future of Warfare Initiative at the Center for a New American Security (CNAS). Prior to joining CNAS, ...
