CIAO DATE: 03/2014
October 2013
American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research
As Washington struggles to deal with the national debt and the size and reach of the federal government, the defense budget has become an increasingly attractive target for savings. The Obama administration has already enacted or proposed cuts of close to $1 trillion over the next decade. These have dramatically reduced the US Department of Defense’s (DoD’s) capacity to modernize aging military inventories. Such investment is critical to protecting American national interests. Yet, the current fiscal environment affords little hope for a larger defense budget, and political gridlock could put in place even more reductions. Although it remains unclear whether Congress will be able to reach a compromise to avert the remainder of sequestration’s almost $500 billion in defense cuts, all indications are that even if Congress were to reach something short of a “grand bargain,” defense would be expected to contribute a large share of the savings—perhaps in amounts almost totaling the original sequestration package.
Resource link: Preserving the military health care benefit: Needed steps for reform [PDF] - 1.8M