Obama administration to keep course steady on Defense spending - for now
President-elect Obama's nominee for the post of Deputy Secretary of Defense, William Lynn, told the Senate Armed Services committee in written testimony that the new administration will not make major changes to the budget drafted last fall by the Defense Department.
Discussing the transition facing the new administration, Lynn said that one of the challenge" will be to conduct at least three sets of major program and budget reviews in the first few months of the new administration. These include review of the second FY 2009 Supplemental Appropriation submission, revisions to the draft FY 2010 budget and its timely submission to the Congress, and the expeditious completion of the Quadrennial Defense Review and the associated formulation of a defense strategy and the FY 2011 defense program and budget."
"My understanding is that the Department has prepared a draft FY 2010 budget baseline that is ready for review by the new administration," Lynn said. " Although that budget will eventually be submitted by President Obama, there will be only a limited amount of time for the DoD and the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) to make revisions prior to submission to the Congress in the late-March to mid-April timeframe. The review of the FY 2010 budget request will, of necessity, have to be limited in scope, addressing the key initiatives of the new administration such as ground forces end strength, quality of life programs, and selected acquisition programs. A broader review would be conducted as part of the Quadrennial Defense Review and the associated formulation of the FY 2011 defense program and budget."
This isn't a big surprise, as this is the sort of problem every new administration faces. But they're especially daunting, considering that two wars are in progress; the last time there was a transition from one party to another in wartime was when Nixon came into the White House in 1968.
Posted by Sean Gallagher on Jan 15, 2009 at 8:12 AM