Navy readiness-related funding has been trending higher virtually every year, according to Katherine Blakeley, a defense budget expert with the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments. She studied the issue as part of forthcoming analysis of the president’s 2018 request for Defense Department operations and maintenance funds.
“If you look at those funding levels between 2009 and 2017, Congress has actually appropriated a smooth, upward line,” she said. “In every year except for two, it’s pretty much on the nose for what the Navy requested.”
While there was a smooth, upward trend for Navy maintenance and depot appropriations from $10.4 billion in 2011 to $13 billion in 2017, Navy budget lines that most directly contribute to near-term operational training were flat at about $2.5 billion annually, except for a dip in 2015 to $2.4 billion.
“From a training perspective it doesn’t look like there is a real pile of missing money for Navy sailors, Navy pilots and flight-support crew,” Blakeley said.
Budget caps do not appear to be the cause either, according to Blakeley. Funding levels have been consistently higher than future Pentagon budget plans offered by former Defense Secretary Bob Gates before Congress passed budget caps that some argue artificially depressed defense budgets.
“That says to me it needs more inquiry, and it’s not a question of there being no money,” she said. “Maybe the Navy is wrong in their estimation of how much money is needed, but Congress has consistently been appropriating more.”
A key question for lawmakers to ask is what percentage of the appropriated funding is being spent, Blakeley said. The Air Force has had problems with using training dollars because there are not enough ready aircraft, and it’s unclear whether the Navy faces a similar issue.