But defense lobbying is a two-front war. As lobbyists work Capitol Hill, they can’t lose sight of the goings-on in the Pentagon. The release of the budget request marks the end of a year of internal, E-ring wrangling over funding levels and the start of another one.
In coming months, military service planners will piece together a six-year strategic blueprint known as the program objective memorandum by July. The process could be trickier this year because the Office of Management and Budget is not expected to provide significant guidance on overall defense spending levels. That decision will be left to the next administration.
In recent weeks, Adm. Mike Mullen, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, has been making the case for defense spending to become 4 percent of the gross domestic product. Currently it is about 3.5 percent.
“I really do believe — this 4 percent floor is important,” Mullen said at a press conference last week. “And it’s — really important, given the world we’re living in, given the threats that we see out there, the risks that are, in fact, global.”
Congress approved $86.8 billion out of a nearly $200 billion supplemental request for 2008. The first chunk of the supplemental was mostly for personnel and operations costs. The defense industry is hoping the second installment includes more money for procurement such as body armor and other equipment for two brigade combat teams.
In addition to its budget submission, the White House asked for $70 billion for ongoing operations in 2009. The details won’t be released for another couple of days, but the request is expected to include funding for four F-22 Raptors – a victory for Lockheed Martin and the plane’s many subcontractors and suppliers. But that likelihood has already prompted some complaints from Capitol Hill that Deputy Secretary of Defense Gordon England is punting difficult political decisions to the next administration.
Pentagon planners defended the budget, saying it begins to move supplemental spending on force growth and other programs into the baseline.
“We got a very healthy increase this year,” said Tina Jonas, the Pentagon’s comptroller. When the $70 billion supplemental is added to the $515.4 billion baseline, total defense spending hits the 4 percent of GDP mark, she said.
“The department is moving in the right direction,” Jonas said.
The Army has used supplemental money to pay for new equipment beyond the requirements of making up for combat losses. Supplemental money has gone to pay for General Dynamics’ Stryker vehicles, upgrading the BAE Systems’ Bradley Fighting Vehicles, and the General Dynamics-made Abrams tank, according to one congressional source.
By modernizing its weapons systems this way, the Army has been able to pour money into its flagship, but troubled, Future Combat Systems program. That system has been restructured several times. Its introduction has been delayed from 2010 to 2015, at the earliest. According to the congressional source, the strained budgets that are expected in the future could further jeopardize the program, at least as FCS is currently envisioned.
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