Budget/Appropriations

The Pentagon’s estimate for how much the Budget Control Act would cut planned spending over a decade is a moving target — and it moved again Thursday.

Obama's announcement places him at the center of the Pentagon's budget cuts as he runs for reelection.

Defense Secretary Leon Panetta this week will unveil a soup-to-nuts strategy review that will help the Pentagon enact hundreds of billions in budget cuts and guide its strategic planning for years to come, says a report.

The New York Times's all-star duo of Elisabeth Bumiller and Thom Shanker reported in Tuesday’s issue that the so-called “comprehensive review” will be unveiled this week. The Hill first reported in late November that Pentagon officials would give lawmakers and the press a sneak peek at the military’s 2013 budget plan.

Potential cuts to defense are likely to be an issue used by both Obama and his Republican opponent.

Senior U.S. military leaders soon will commission a sweeping study aimed at paring skyrocketing retirement costs, and it might be ordered by the commander in chief.

Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Martin Dempsey told troops during a town-hall meeting at Germany's Ramstein Air Force Base that military retirement and benefits reform has been “pushed to the side of the table” as officials implement a first round of budget cuts.

That means Pentagon officials have been able to implement the first tranche of a $350 billion, 10-year budget cut without making changes to the military’s retirement and benefits system. The Pentagon says that will equal up to a $490 billion cut to planned spending.

But, the chairman said, “it’s still on the table.”

He announced Pentagon officials soon will launch the sweeping study of the retirement system, saying: “The president may even be the one who commissions [it].”

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U.S. generals often say troops fight the nation’s overseas wars and they handle the battles in Washington — and 2012 will feature several.

 In a repeat of 2011, Pentagon budget cuts will be at the center of just about every defense fight next year.



House Armed Services Committee Chairman Buck McKeon (R-Calif.) is proposing a measure that would avoid the first year of sequestration cuts by reducing the federal workforce by 10 percent in the next decade.

McKeon’s legislation, which he announced in a Thursday press conference, is designed to help stave off a potential $500 billion in automatic defense cuts through sequestration.

His bill cuts $127 billion, McKeon said, by reducing the federal workforce through attrition and hiring back only one federal worker for every three who retire.

Ninety-two House members signed a letter supporting Obama's threat to veto any attempt to undo the automatic defense cuts.

Republican senators face an uphill battle in their effort to replace $600 billion in Defense Department cuts.

The House approved the bill once lawmakers were assured it does not allow the administration to indefinitely detain U.S. citizens.