As Congress works to pass spending legislation for 2012, the White House has endorsed a Senate plan to freeze the Defense Department's base budget at 2011 levels. The White House's new position shows how much has changed since it first unveiled its budget request for the Pentagon in February. Back then, the White House expected the Pentagon's budget to continue to enjoy real growth.
That was before a budget for 2011 was passed or the debt ceiling debate and the resulting Budget Control Act of 2011 was signed into law.That legislation places a cap on security spending in 2012, defining security accounts as "agency budgets for the Department of Defense, the Department of Homeland Security, the Department of Veterans Affairs, the National Nuclear Security Administration, the intelligence community management account (95-0401-0-1-054), and all budget accounts in budget function 150 (international affairs)."
The 2012 cap for security spending is $5 billion less than the $689 billion enacted in fiscal year 2011 and $36 billion less than the $720 billion requested for 2012, according to analysis by the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments.