Kate Blakeley, a defense budget analyst at the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments, said the budget appeared to be heavily influenced by OMB Director Mick Mulvaney, a fiscal conservative who, as a member of the House, supported a government shutdown rather than increase federal spending. She said the administration's policy position of "paying for higher defense BCA caps with one-for-one cuts to non-defense discretionary cuts instead of an actual repeal of the BCA caps for defense" was "highly salient" to any projection or analysis of DOD's future topline. "How much money will DOD be able to ask for next year, given the deficit hawk imprimatur on FY-18?" she said. Blakeley said OMB's budget documents show flat defense spending over the five-year period known at the Pentagon as the future years defense program, or FYDP. DOD should plan for $587 billion in FY-19, $598 billion in FY-20, $612 billion in FY-21 and $624 billion in FY-22, according to OMB.
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