China and Russia Love That Congress Can’t Pass a Defense Budget
By
James Holmes
Published
22 hours ago
Defense Budget
Congress is in the midst of making a strategic decision—an awful one. We’re pushing four months into the new fiscal year, and lawmakers have not yet appropriated funds to execute the National Defense Authorization Act passed last month and signed by President Joe Biden. The $768 billion defense budget would help keep America competitive with the Chinas and Russias of the world at a time of strategic flux.
But authorization is not appropriation. Because of congressional infighting, the Pentagon is muddling through on a continuing resolution—a temporary spending measure that fixes funding levels at the (lower) level from the previous year. Not only does a continuing resolution reduce defense spending and degrade readiness at a time when readiness is at a premium, freezing funding may—and in all likelihood will—prevent the armed forces from investing in innovative new programs set forth in the National Defense Authorization Act. It will set back programs like hypersonic weapons and the next-generation Columbia-class nuclear-powered ballistic-missile submarine (SSBN).
https://www.19fortyfive.com/2022/01/china-and-russia-love-that-congress-cant-pass-a-defense-budget/
