CSBA in the News

The top defense policy Democrat in the House said Thursday that the military authorization legislation being marked up by the Armed Services panel would create a bow wave of funding shortfalls in fiscal 2016 as lawmakers try to defer tough budget choices in fiscal 2015.

It wasn’t looking good for the Growlers. The Boeing-made fighter jets, used to jam enemy radar, were left out of the Pentagon’s budget for next year. And with spending strictly limited by a budget cap, the plane seemed headed for extinction.

In the midst of complex and wide-ranging threats from around the world, Congress must work more closely with the Pentagon to get more out of the defense dollars it spends, House Armed Services Committee members said Monday.

Many ships are sailing on cruises far beyond the once-standard six or seven months, and Navy leaders are eager to make these long and often unpredictable deployments the exception.

House lawmakers next week begin marking up the annual defense policy bill. The only problem is that the Pentagon hasn’t said how many U.S. troops will remain in Afghanistan, and how much it will cost to keep them there.

President Barack Obama’s decision to send nearly 600 troops to Poland and other countries in the Baltic region is a political message and not a signal that the United States is contemplating going to war with Russia, according to defense experts.