The Defense Department is moving on a Trump administration plan to shave just over $30 billion from its proposed defense spending budget for the next fiscal year, but Pentagon number-crunchers are girding for a fight over those cuts once that plan hits Capitol Hill.
Pentagon officials are preparing two separate budget proposals for fiscal year 2020, the department’s No. 2 official said last week. One plan will include the original spending top line of $733 billion for that year, the spending target department leaders have been aiming for since planning began this year.
The second budget plan will focus on a $700 billion top-line number, representing a roughly 5 percent cut to the department’s bottom line.
The move is part of an initiative announced by Mr. Trump this month, when he called for a 5 percent reduction across all federal agencies. Mick Mulvaney, head of the Office of Management and Budget, formally ordered the Pentagon to work in Mr. Trump’s initiative into planning for the fiscal year 2020 spending blueprint, which is expected to be finalized in December.
“We’ve been going through this very disciplined process for the whole year to build a budget that’s $733 billion, and then last week we’re told to build a $700 billion budget,” Deputy Secretary of Defense Patrick Shanahan said during a briefing Friday. “We are not going to reverse course on all that planning, but we will build two budgets.”
The move is likely to incense GOP defense hawks on Capitol Hill, who have doubled down on efforts to increase defense spending, based on Mr. Trump’s pro-defense rhetoric. Conservative defense think tanks have already begun to push back against the White House’s proposal.
“The cut to fiscal year 2020 national defense funding from the planned amount of $733 … is a serious mistake,” retired Army Gen. Thomas Spoehr said in a statement.
Given the serious national security challenges posed by near-peer competitors such as Russia, China and Iran, “the proposed loss of $33 billion in buying power for 2020 and perhaps beyond, threatens to stop the necessary rebuilding of our military in its tracks,” said Mr. Spoehr, who now serves as director of the Center for National Defense at the conservative Heritage Foundation.
Conversely, congressional Democrats and budget hawks on both sides of the aisle may look to Mr. Trump’s decision to slash defense spending as a way to eliminate some of the administration’s more controversial national security endeavors. Democratic lawmakers’ hands could be strengthened even further should they take control of chairmanship of key defense committees after the upcoming midterm elections.
One obvious target would be the White House’s efforts to stand up a new Space Force. The plan, being spearheaded by Vice President Mike Pence, would see the creation of a new a Combatant Command for the proposed Space Force — which would be the sixth military branch — along with a new joint Space Development Agency to minimize bureaucratic oversight.
Proponents of the new military branch say a Space Force is needed, given efforts by Beijing and Moscow to weaponize space. Opponents claim the program is unnecessary and would only duplicate missions already handled by the Navy and Air Force.
Mr. Shanahan said Friday that initial spending estimates for the new Space Force could be released as soon as this week. However, he declined to comment on how those figures could be affected by Mr. Trump’s proposed defense spending cut.
“There are certain things that you can’t change. There are just near-term costs that we’re going to spend in the next year that are on contract,” Mr. Shanahan said during the annual Military Reporters and Editors conference in Arlington, Virginia.
“Then there are other investments we would make … where we have [options] in terms of timing,” he said. “It comes down to a judgment call.”
Please read our comment policy before commenting.