Pentagon’s No. 2 joining budget director at sequester hearing

Deputy Defense Secretary Ashton Carter will be testifying alongside the acting director of the Office of Management and Budget at a congressional hearing on the impact of defense cuts through sequestration set to hit Jan. 2, according to congressional and Pentagon sources.

Acting OMB Director Jeffrey Zients agreed Monday to testify at the hearing in the House Armed Services Committee slated for Aug. 1, said committee spokesman Claude Chafin.

Committee Chairman Buck McKeon (R-Calif.) had pressed for Zients to testify as he and Republicans have pushed the Obama administration to explain how the $500 billion in sequestration cuts to defense spending would be implemented.

The addition of the Pentagon’s No. 2 officials will make the hearing the most high-profile yet on the sequestration cuts, which have been getting increasing attention in Washington. The cuts, roughly $500 billion to both defense and non-defense spending, were set in motion after the supercommittee failed to find more than $1 trillion in deficit reduction last year.

The Obama administration has said it’s not yet planning for the cuts, instead arguing they were never intended to be implemented and urging Congress to find a fix. But with the two parties unable to gain much traction on a deal, there have measures in Congress moving to force the administration to explain the cuts’ impact.

The Pentagon has said it’s not done any planning for the across-the-board cuts under guidance from OMB, but the budget agency has started softening its position, saying that some planning is occurring.

“While OMB has not yet engaged agencies in planning, our staff is conducting the analysis needed to move forward if necessary,” spokeswoman Moira Mack said in a statement Monday.

---