August 21, 2017
Cut the budget caps: The US needs to properly fund our military
Amidst the return of the Maverick and late-night health care votes in the Senate, it is easy to lose sight of the other major development to happen on the Hill last couple weeks — the House passed an appropriations bill that busts budget caps by $63.5 billion. The defense appropriation bill in the Senate, which has yet to hit the floor, exceeds caps by $1.8 billion. If either are enacted, they would trigger sequestration, the automatic cuts required by the 2011 Budget Control Act (BCA).
The draconian budget caps have cut defense funding by $78 billion since President Obama’s 2012 budget. The congressional defense committees have written budgets that realistically address how to rebuild the military but the threat of sequestration threatens the success of those budgets.
Read the full op-ed in The Hill.
More from CNAS
-
Defense / Technology & National Security
Stop Obsessing Over AGIWhat’s lacking? Thoughtful, deliberate, and evidence-based deployment and adoption strategies....
By Lt. Gen. Jack Shanahan
-
Defense / Transatlantic Security
Who Should Coordinate Europe’s Defense Buildup?Who will coordinate the surge in defense spending about to get underway?...
By Sara Moller
-
Defense / Technology & National Security
Ukrainians Build Low-Tech Defense Against Russian DronesIn Ukraine, one weapon has revolutionized the battlefield: the drone. It's cheap, precise and widely available. Many of them are now immune to high-tech jamming. In southern U...
By Samuel Bendett
-
Strategy in Contention: Debating America’s Global Priorities
Does the United States need a new playbook — or just fewer plays? In this charged episode, big ideas collide over how to sequence American power across the Middle East, Europe...
By Stacie Pettyjohn