BIGGER SHOPPING LIST: As the House Armed Services subcommittees begin markups of the 2018 National Defense Authorization Act this week, the advice from interested parties is flowing. The Heritage Foundation’s Center for National Defense has released a laundry list of recommendations for Congress to consider, including advocating a topline number of $632 billion for baseline spending in 2018. Among other Heritage recommendations: Add 12,000 soldiers to the active Army component; provide full funding for immediate naval readiness challenges; increase Air Force end strength to 326,000 airmen; rebuild Air Force retention and incentive programs; and fund the expedited acquisition of the fifth-generation fighter.
THE BRAC DEBATE: Another drive is coming from a bipartisan coalition of experts from more than 30 think tanks, who have sent an open letter to members of the Senate and House Armed Services Committees urging them to authorize a Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) round this year. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis has told Congress if it could just see its way to another round of politically-unpopular base closings, the Pentagon could save a quick $2 billion a year.
“Congress has blocked closures here at home for over a decade. In that time, the military has been forced to allocate resources away from the training and equipping of our soldiers, and toward maintaining unneeded and unwanted infrastructure,” says the letter posted on the CATO Institute website. “Local communities have been deprived of the support that BRAC would provide, and have been denied access to property that could be put to productive use. Meanwhile, many tens of billions of taxpayers’ dollars have been wasted,” write defense experts Christopher Preble, Mackenzie Eaglen and Todd Harrison.
More:
http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/groups-press-for-defense-spending-hikes-base-closures/article/2176679
