Congress Leaves Defense Department Hanging.

• Author: Carberry, Sean
• Position: BUDGET MATTERS

During the spring and summer, there was a common refrain coming from the hawks on the Hill: the president's fiscal year 2023 budget proposal shortchanged national security. The $773 billion request for the Defense Department--$813 billion total for national defense--simply would not cut it in the current environment.

"I am very concerned that this budget would result in real cuts in defense spending at exactly the wrong time," said Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, during a May 3 hearing.

"In a fiscal environment with 8.5 percent inflation, the department's budget request equates to a cut to our national defense at a time of unprecedented security risks," said Sen. Richard Shelby, R-Ala., at the same hearing.

Similar concerns were raised in the House about the request, which was a 4 percent increase above enacted 2022 funding.

Both chambers walked their talk when drafting versions of the 2023 National Defense Authorization Act. The House bill, passed in July, added $37 billion to the White House proposal, and the Senate Armed Services Committee mark added $45 billion.

In a statement about the SASC's passage of the 2023 NDAA, Sen. Jack Reed, D-R.I., stated that Russia's invasion of Ukraine and worldwide inflation required the committee to increase defense funding.

"This year's markup advances U.S. military capabilities in response to China and Russia," he said. "It targets research-and-development investments that will give our forces major advantages."

Since then... crickets.

In September, the National Defense Industrial Association issued a white paper warning Congress that since 2021, inflation has eaten up $50 billion in Pentagon purchasing power. The lack of real growth in defense spending has also resulted in a $110 billion execution loss.

Yet, the full Senate did not vote on the draft NDAA before the end of the fiscal year, and Congress failed to pass any spending bills before Sept. 30.

Instead, Congress once again resorted to a continuing resolution to keep the government funded until Dec. 16.

That resolution meant that the Defense Department started fiscal year 2023 with the same funding as 2022, and no adjustment for the roughly 9 percent inflation since the beginning of fiscal year 2022.

The resolution expressly prohibits new starts, production increases or "the initiation, resumption, or continuation of any project, activity, operation, or organization... for which appropriations, funds, or other authority were not available during...