washingtonscene
cutbacks that will end up raising costs and hurting readiness. Nearly six months into FY 2011, Con-
gress still hasn’t passed this crucial fund- ing bill, leaving the Pentagon and the rest of the country operating under 2010’s budget constraints. At press time, both sides continued to haggle over how much to cut federal spending, and legislators had passed yet another short-term continuing resolu- tion that maintains funding for most programs at the FY 2010 level through April 8.
Defense leaders have warned in in-
creasingly dire terms that, if left operating under a continuing resolution without a new defense appropriations act, military readiness will be at significant risk. Speaking before the Senate Appropria-
tions Committee, Deputy Secretary of Defense William Lynn and Comptroller Robert Hale said the continuing resolu- tion requirements will force the services to cut flying hours and steaming days, defer equipment maintenance, cancel training events and exercises, and sus- pend new acquisition and military con- struction programs. Far from saving any money, they said, such disruptions raise defense costs significantly when the pro- grams have to be restarted later.
Lynn said operating under a continuing
resolution also provides insufficient funds for “must-pay” bills such as military pay and health care coverage, forcing defense leaders to “rob Peter to pay Paul.” Questioned about the impact of a gov- ernment shutdown on DoD, Lynn and Hale said plans include an unannounced furlough of half the civilian workforce. The other half of the civilian workforce,
as well as servicemembers, would still come to work, but Lynn said DoD would be unable to pay them. Hale said the services already have
started freezing civilian hiring and delay- ing permanent-change-of-station moves, which is extremely disruptive for the affected families. “These kinds of changes are going to
snowball,” Hale said. “We will try to post- pone the actions that will be most damag- ing to readiness as long as we can, but we can only hold our breath so long.”
MOAA Lists VA S
MOAA’s Col. Bob Norton, USA-Ret., testifies at a March 16 joint House and Senate Veterans’ Affairs committee hearing.
34 MILITARY OFFICER MAY 2011
Priorities Employment and caregivers are high on the list.
en. Patty Murray (D-Wash.) and Rep. Jeff Miller (R-Fla.), newly appointed chairs of the Senate and
House Veterans’ Affairs committees, re- spectively, welcomed representatives from MOAA and other military and veterans’ groups providing testimony at a March 16 joint hearing before the two committees. In her opening remarks, Murray em- phasized “VA care is a cost of war.” She and Miller noted their priorities include support for the caregivers of severely wounded warriors, meaningful employ- ment for veterans, and better access for female veterans in the VA system.
PHOTO: MARV HARRIS
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92 |
Page 93 |
Page 94 |
Page 95 |
Page 96 |
Page 97 |
Page 98 |
Page 99 |
Page 100