FPI Bulletin: Congress Must Lead on Rebuilding the U.S. Military | Foreign Policy Initiative

By David Adesnik | November 5, 2014

November 5, 2014

Now that Republicans have an opportunity to lead both chambers of Congress, where should they look to make their mark?  Start with the defense budget, which currently faces $1 trillion in cuts at a time when the United States confronts growing threats across the globe. Congress should act swiftly to reverse these cuts, address immediate shortfalls in military resources, and lay the foundation for a comprehensive rebuilding program.

This program has the advantage that it should a bipartisan imperative.  It was, after all, called for by the bipartisan, congressionally chartered National Defense Panel (NDP).  As the NDP noted, increased defense spending will be necessary to execute the Obama administration’s own defense strategy laid out earlier this year: “[U]nder current circumstances, the Department cannot be expected even to carry out its missions effectively.”

The NDP’s crucial recommendation is that Congress and the President should “repeal the Budget Control Act (BCA) immediately.” This means ending sequestration and revoking the BCA’s arbitrary limits on defense spending.

As the NDP explains, the country’s strategy should determine what it spends, not vice versa. Already, the “sequester has precipitated an immediate readiness crisis,” which means that our ships, planes and ground units do not have the equipment and trained personnel necessary to carry out their missions. If this crisis continues unabated, it “will lead to a hollow force.”

The NDP also recommended an approach to guide this effort, calling on the President and Congress to “return as soon as possible to at least the funding baseline proposed in the Gates’ FY 2012 defense budget.”  This would require an estimated investment of just over $100 billion in Fiscal Year 2015, which is the difference between what President Obama has requested ($496 billion) and what Secretary of Defense Robert Gates projected would be necessary before he left office ($598 billion).

Several immediate concerns should focus this increase:

This list of priorities would keep the lights on at the Pentagon, but there is much more work to be done to retain key capabilities like the A-10 Warthog, expand missile defense, and allow the Army and Marine Corps to resume modernizing America’s land power.

Three years ago, while the Budget Control Act was making its way into law, the President announced that “the tide of war is receding.” This perspective may have helped to justify the nearly $1 trillion of cuts contained in the BCA, but it has been demolished by the rise of ISIS, the invasion of Ukraine, and other growing threats. With some $290 billion in cuts having taken effect by the end of the current fiscal year, the onus is now on the Congress to lead the way in repairing the damage done to our military.

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