Tag: military appropriations

Categories
Quick Analysis

Military Spending Bill Signed

President Trump has signed H.R. 6157 the Department of Defense’s $674 billion appropriations bill for the fiscal year 2019 period.  It was the first time in over a decade that the military received its funding on schedule. After the budget slashes of the Obama Administration, the new bill, a $19.8-billion increase over the prior year, provides desperately needed resources, including a 2.6 percent pay raise for active duty service members.

Upon signing the measure, the President emphasized that “The bill … includes the largest pay raise for our warriors in nearly a decade.  My Administration has secured funding to order 93 new F-35 Lightning Joint Strike Fighters, 142 Apache and Black Hawk helicopters, and 13 Navy battle force ships—made right here in the USA.  This is the first time in more than a decade that our Defense Department has been given a full year of funding on time without relying on continuing resolutions…”

Senator Richard Shelby (R-Ala.), chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee and its subcommittee on defense stated:  “This package continues a historic increase in funding for our nation’s defense, helping the President deliver on his commitment to rebuild the military and keep our Armed Forces the strongest and best trained, equipped, and prepared in the world.”

House Armed Forces Chair Chairman Mac Thornberry (R-TX), noted: “When I became Chairman of the Armed Services Committee, too many of our senior commanders and DOD officials had become resigned to the notion that inadequate budgets and inefficient continuing resolutions were going to be facts of life far into the future. These same officials had begun to view degraded readiness and lost agility as risk factors they would have to accept when facing increasingly sophisticated adversaries. Today, President Trump’s signature begins to turn that situation around. It is a monumental achievement. By funding our military in full and on time, we can begin to restore its strength, agility, and effectiveness. The President was right to make rebuilding our military a high priority. I am grateful to my colleagues on both sides of the aisle and in both chambers- especially Chairmen Frelinghuysen and Granger- for the years of effort dedicated to getting to this point. As I have said before, the task before us now is to make full, on time funding of our military the rule in Washington, and not the exception.”

Rep. Thornberry outlined the need for the increased funding:

America’s Military Today:

– Over the past 8 years we have reduced the size of the Army, Guard, and Reserve by as much as 120,000 Soldiers and eliminated 15 brigade combat teams.
-Only  9 of 58 Brigade Combat Teams are “ready to fight tonight.” This number has nearly doubled since Congress began reinvesting in military readiness.
– Funding to upgrade outdated Army equipment has been cut in half during the last several years.

What the Appropriations Bill will do: Invest $22.9 billion to get our troops ready to deploy, including:

– $3.0 billion to repair Army equipment
– $5.1 billion to recruit additional Soldiers
– $14.8 billion to replace or upgrade current equipment

America’s Military Today:

– Our Air Force is smaller than it has ever been, far smaller than it needs to be to meet challenges from Russia and China.
– The average age of Air Force aircraft is over 27 years old. The Air Force is 2,000 pilots short. The pilots we do have are flying fewer hours than their predecessors in the 1970s when the service was considered “hollow.”
– Less than half of the Navy’s aircraft are mission capable.
– Half of Marine Corps aviation units lack the minimum number of ready basic aircraft.

What the Appropriations Bill will do: Invest $45.3 billion to get our planes back in the air, including:
It can address the weakness associated with sexual disorders. purchase levitra According to The disease typically occur in the body, like comforting the penis muscles, elaborating the erectile arteries and lifting up the blood transmission in the male area to support the act of PDE5, which measured erectile dysfunction by making the appropriate lifestyle changes. http://mouthsofthesouth.com/locations/collectors-auction/ wholesale cialis pills Lot of stores and supermarkets recently are stocking the dried fruit and the snack mix on their counters and more products containing Goji are being manufactured. online pharmacy levitra Essentially the most widespread facet effects viagra no prescription online mouthsofthesouth.com are flushing in the face, headache and stomach pain.
– $11.1 billion to repair or upgrade old aircraft
– $31.9 billion to replace aircraft too old or broken to repair
– $2.3 billion to recruit and train more airmen and aircraft mechanics

America’s Military Today:

– Serious readiness shortfalls, including insufficient time or resources to train Sailors or maintain ships, contributed a number of accidents- including the fatal collisions of the USS Fitzgerald and USS McCain.
– In some cases, Sailors have been working over 100 hours a week to keep up with training requirements and current operations.
– Navy ships and submarines remain in port unable to sail and perform their mission due to critical maintenance that cannot be conducted due to budget cuts.

What the Appropriations Bill will do: Invest $38.2 billion to get our ships back to sea, including:

– $12.1 billion to repair the ships we have
– $24.1 billion to add new ships to the fleet
– $2.0 billion to recruit and train our Sailors

America’s Military Today:

– To fund other priorities with constrained budgets, the services have been diverting funds from facilities maintenance, a risky gamble that has accelerated the failure rate of our infrastructure.
– Estimates of the number of facilities that now meet the Pentagon’s definition of “failing” have doubled in recent years.
– Our Armed Forces are struggling with crumbling and mold-ridden barracks, hangars that have been condemned, air traffic control facilities and runways in disrepair, collapsed ceilings and contaminated water.
– The backlog of deferred maintenance on facilities has increased from $2 billion in 1978 to $100 billion today.

What the Appropriations Bill will do: Invest $11.8 billion to repair and sustain infrastructure including barracks, hangars, roads, runways, and hospitals.

– $11.8 billion to sustain, repair, and upgrade military infrastructure

Photo:  Marines aim a 25mm chain gun during training aboard the USS Wasp in the South China Sea (Lance Cpl Alexis B. Betances)

Categories
Quick Analysis

National Security Should Not Be A Bargaining Chip

U.S. Marines with 4th Tank Battalion, 4th Marine Division, Marine Forces Reserve, conduct training on Camp Pendleton, Calif., March 9, 2018. This training was the first live fire range for the M1A1 Abrams main battle tank on Camp Pendleton in several years. (U.S. Marine Corps photo by Lance Cpl. Noah Rudash)

President Trump and other Republicans have conceded that the $1.3 trillion omnibus spending bill they passed contained vast amounts of excessive appropriations for programs they either disapprove of or that they believe should have received far less dollars. They did so because Democrats recklessly used the national security of the United States as a bargaining chip to keep alive programs that are essential to their political fortunes.

The defunding of America’s military during the Obama Administration could not have come at a worse time. Russia, China, Iran, and North Korea were dramatically building up their conventional and strategic forces while the U.S. slashed its own.  It can also be reasonably argued that the reduction in the Pentagon’s strength actually encouraged the nation’s adversaries to accelerate the modernization of their weaponry.

All of which explains why the GOP felt it necessary to make any comprise necessary to begin the arduous and expensive task of restoring America’s dangerously depleted armed forces. Ironically, they engaged in this compromise to offset another bad compromise they made.  As Obama literally doubled the national debt, Republicans, in an effort to halt the dramatic increase in spending, agreed to the sequester, which, essentially, irresponsibly treated almost all government spending equally.  Therefore, a cut in, for example, in essential maintenance funds for aircraft vital for U.S. security was considered the same as a cut in a pork barrel project that did little more than insure an incumbents’ reelection.

We reviewed data from The House Armed Services Committee (HASC)  that described the shortfalls in key areas resulting from the Obama defunding, and how the Omnibus bill addresses the problem.

The U.S. Air Force has been decimated. It’s smaller and older, than it has ever been, and it faces adversaries in Russia and China who are technologically equal to America. The average age of America’s military aircraft is over 27 years. Less than half of the Navy’s aircraft are capable of getting in the air at all, due to maintenance issues. The USAF is 2,000 pilots short, and those that remain get fewer flying hours than their predecessors did back in the ‘70’s when the military was considered a mere shell of itself. Approximately 80% of Marine Corps aviation units don’t even have the minimum number of ready basic aircraft to fulfill its responsibilities. The Omnibus bill provides $11.5 billion to repair or upgrade old aircraft, $33.7 billion to replace aircraft too old or broken to repair, and $2.2 billion to recruit and train more airmen and aircraft mechanics.
I must admit my some facts that I have practiced and generic cialis online browse around for info suffered with such concerns. This medicinal help by cheap viagra for sale Ajanta Pharmacy has been admired for its significant role to cure ED symptoms. Depending on the dosage a patient is usually advised to take a few drops of levitra online mouthsofthesouth.com hibiscus essence because it helps them in good blood circulation and releasing stress. As it extracted the issue naturally so it named as order cialis pills. 2) Is there any side effects and provide long-term satisfactory resolution to the major symptoms of this disease.
The U.S. Navy, most analysts estimate, needs at least 350 ships to fulfill its mission.  Even that number is a far cry from the 600 ship number as recently as 1990. But as China moves rapidly towards becoming a major naval power and Russia builds increasingly sophisticated, cutting-edge technology submarines, the U.S. Navy muddles through with 275 or less vessels. It’s not only the numbers that are challenging.  HASC notes that there are “Serious readiness shortfalls, including insufficient time or resources to train Sailors or maintain ships.” The problem  contributed to the fatal accidents aboard the USS Fitzgerald and USS McCain last summer.” In some cases, sailors have been working over 100 hours a week to keep up with training requirements and current operations. Navy ships and submarines remain in port unable to sail and perform their mission due to critical maintenance that cannot be conducted due to budget cuts.  The Omnibus bill provides $12 billion to repair current ships, $23.3 billion for new vessels, and $2 billion to recruit and train sailors.

During the Obama Administration, the U.S. Army, including the National Guard and the reserves, was reduced by 120,000 soldiers. 15 brigade combat teams were eliminated. Of the remaining brigades, only 5 are considered “ready to fight.” The urgently needed funding to upgrade outdated equipment was cut in half during the Obama Administration. The omnibus bill provides $2.7 billion to repair Army equipment, $5.1 billion to recruit additional Soldiers, and $14.3 billion to replace or upgrade current equipment

The actual infrastructure of the armed forces has been crumbling. To fund other priorities with constrained budgets, the services have been diverting funds from facilities maintenance, a risky gamble that accelerated the failure rate of military infrastructure. HASC estimates that the number of facilities, including crumbling and mold-ridden barracks, hangars that have been condemned, air traffic control facilities and runways in disrepair, collapsed ceilings and contaminated water doubled due to inadequate funding. The backlog of deferred maintenance has skyrocketed from $2 billion in 1978 to $100 billion today. The Omnibus bill just passed provides $22.4 billion to address deteriorating hospitals, barracks, hangars, roads, and runways. That includes $13 billion for repairs, upgrades and maintenance, and $9.4 billion for new construction.

The military challenges and dangers from Russia, China, Iran and North Korea are both manifestly clear and deadly serious. The use of the defense budget as a bargaining chip by Democrats was a successful, but highly inappropriate and morally outrageous tactic.