Todd Harrison, a budget expert at the nonpartisan Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments, delved into the details Aug. 1 as the two chambers began considering the late-weekend deal. If the cap on security spending in fiscal 2012 proposed by the bill before Congress were applied proportionately, the Pentagon could face a $37 billion cut relative to the president’s $553 billion baseline request, Harrison says. That would bring the new allocation to $516 billion — or $14 billion less than the level provided by the House in its defense spending bill for the fiscal year starting Oct. 1.
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