Defense policy bill cuts would slash counterterrorism fund

[mystery-ak]

http://thehill.com/policy/defense/258924-defense-policy-bill-cuts-of-5b-would-slash-obama-counterterrorism-fund

 By Kristina Wong - 11/03/15 12:06 AM EST

Congress intends to slash funds for the Obama administration's counterterrorism partnership fund next year to reduce defense spending to a level negotiated last week between the White House and congressional leadership. 

The $1 billion fund, authorized in 2016, would fall to $750 million, according to documents obtained by The Hill that show where $5 billion in cuts from the Pentagon's authorized budget would be made.

The Pentagon's train-and-equip program for Syrian rebels that was authorized at $531 million in 2016 will be reduced by $125 million. Although the White House suspended the original program, it has transitioned to a program in which the leaders of rebel groups are trained, and the groups are equipped with ammunition and potentially weapons in the future.

The cuts of $5 billion were reached Monday after consultations between House Armed Services Committee Chairman Mac Thornberry (R-Texas), the Senate Armed Services Committee and defense appropriators.

Congress and the White House agreed last week on a budget that would leave the Pentagon $5 billion short of the amount authorized in the 2016 National Defense Authorization Act.

Military readiness would also be hit hard by the cuts. The documents detail a $250 million cut for Army readiness, and a $193 million decrease for Army National Guard readiness.

A large portion of the cuts are found in planned Defense Department headquarters streamlining and attrition -- $435 million.

Lowered fuel prices would result in a $1.082 billion reduction -- the largest cut.  About $110 million in additional fuel savings would come from the Afghan Security Forces Fund.

The cuts include reductions for some major weapons systems, although the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter program would be spared. 

General Dynamics Bath Iron Works' DDG-51 Navy destroyer program would take a $150 million hit, a planned quantity increase of General Atomics' MQ-9 Reaper drone would take a $80 million cut, and Lockheed Martin's Patriot Advanced Capability (PAC-3) Missile Segment Enhancement program would lose $100 million.

Purchases of Lockheed Martin's Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) anti-ballistic missile system would be reduced by $50 million, and Raytheon's SM-3 Block IB missile by $30 million. 

The cuts are also directed at a host of smaller items that range from aircraft modifications, to Navy Fleet Band National Tours, uniform research and the elimination of a National Guard heritage painting initiative.

Other programs or purchases will be delayed to bring in needed savings. 

And the Technology Offset Initiative, started by former Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel, will be cut by $100 million.

NDAA cuts

[rangerrebew]

  Mon Nov 2, 2015 4:50pm EST
Related: Stocks, Markets
UPDATE 1-U.S. House panel chairman sees 'painful' cuts to weapons programs

(adds comments by Deputy Defense Secretary Work, paragraphs 4-11)

By Andrea Shalal

Nov 2 (Reuters) - U.S. lawmakers are near agreement on $5 billion in cuts to a sweeping defense policy bill, including "painful" ones to arms programs, to comply with a two-year budget deal with the White House, the Republican chairman of the House Armed Services Committee said on Monday.

"I hope we get it finalized today," U.S. Representative Mac Thornberry of Texas told reporters after an event hosted by the Defense One media outlet. He said some cuts could come from lowering fuel spending as a result of lower oil prices, but big programs like Lockheed Martin Corp's F-35 fighter jet might also be scaled back.

"We're looking at them all, and trying to do the least damage, but nobody should be under the illusion that you do this in a non-painful way ... There's going to be pain," he said.
 

"There will be a substantial amount of capability that is cut because of the $5 billion," he told the conference.

The House is expected to vote Thursday on whether to override President Barack Obama's veto of the $612 billion National Defense Authorization Act last month.

Thornberry last week said lawmakers would trim the bill, but not change language restricting efforts to close the Guantanamo Bay military prison.

Thornberry said there has been no decision yet on whether to seek to override Obama's veto and pass a separate measure with the $5 billion in military spending cuts, or pass a whole new bill and send that to the Senate.

Overriding the veto would be "the cleanest and simplest way," he said, noting that a new bill could lead to the Senate adding amendments, delaying enactment.

Thornberry declined to name specific programs that would be hit by the cuts now being finalized. He said committee members were working with their counterparts in the Senate and the appropriations committees to ensure agreement on the cuts. A congressional aide said details would likely come out Tuesday.

Obama's veto caused "huge damage" to one of last vestiges of bipartisanship in Congress, Thornberry said, noting that for the past 53 years Congress and the administration had passed and enacted the annual bill that sets defense policy.

Deputy Defense Secretary Robert Work said the cuts to fiscal 2016 spending levels should not cause a major disruption, but the Pentagon faced more trouble in fiscal 2017, when spending would drop $14 billion from currently planned levels. (Additional reporting by Idrees Ali in Washington; Editing by Jeffrey Benkoe and David Gregorio)

http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/11/02/usa-congress-military-idUSL1N12X23620151102