{"id":84434,"date":"2025-03-17T14:29:07","date_gmt":"2025-03-17T14:29:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/airforcetimes\/uncategorized\/2025\/03\/17\/uncertainty-is-the-only-constant-in-the-pentagons-budget-outlook\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T01:19:54","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T01:19:54","slug":"uncertainty-is-the-only-constant-in-the-pentagons-budget-outlook","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/airforcetimes\/news\/pentagon-congress\/2025\/03\/17\/uncertainty-is-the-only-constant-in-the-pentagons-budget-outlook\/","title":{"rendered":"Uncertainty is the only constant in the Pentagon\u2019s budget outlook"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

For the first time ever, the Pentagon is set to spend a year without a full congressional budget \u2014 a sharp drop in spending that threatens to throttle the military\u2019s work, from weapons programs to training.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Senate passed a six-month continuing resolution, or temporary spending bill Friday, after Congress failed to reach a budget deal before a midnight deadline. The bill includes an extra $6 billion for the military, but otherwise freezes spending at the last fiscal year\u2019s levels, or around $825 billion.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Considering Congress didn\u2019t pass a supplemental defense bill, as it has in recent years for Ukraine, that amounts to a 10.6% drop in military spending, according to data provided by the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The massive cut comes at a bizarre moment for Pentagon spending, which is being pushed in multiple directions by multiple parts of the government.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On one side are those pushing to cut, or at least reallocate, parts of that budget. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has said he plans to fire 5% to 8% of the civilian workforce<\/a> and also shift around $50 billion in future funding requests toward his priorities. Add to that the Department of Government Efficiency, Elon Musk\u2019s attempt to slash the federal government, which is already identifying cuts to defense spending.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On the other end are officials calling for massive increases to the defense budget. Senate Republicans, including Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Roger Wicker of Mississippi, want to add $150 billion to the military starting in fiscal 2026 and are in negotiations to do so. The White House, meanwhile, has pledged to surge America\u2019s sluggish shipbuilding industry<\/a> and build a \u201cgolden dome\u201d missile defense system so ambitious that a general last week likened its goals to the Manhattan Project.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s pushing on the gas with one foot and the brakes with two feet,\u201d said Mackenzie Eaglen, an expert on defense spending at the American Enterprise Institute.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Temporary spending bills, such as the one passed Friday, usually stunt the military\u2019s growth, halting new programs and production lines. This one is different. In order to limit the damage to the military, the bill allows such flexibility for weapons programs included in the House and Senate\u2019s proposed defense spending bills, which are now otherwise obsolete.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Congressional aides said these exceptions will help the Pentagon avoid the whiplash involved in these short-term spending bills, which have become a chronic issue as Congress fails to pass budgets on time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Military leaders were less sanguine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe are seeing an enormous amount of threats emerging every single year, and it is very hard to get after those threats when you have to wait two to four years to get the budget,\u201d said Gen. Michael Guetlein, vice chief of space operations, in a Senate hearing last week.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Appearing alongside him, the vice chief of naval operations argued that the lack of a full budget will further delay maintenance for America\u2019s warships, one-fifth of which are on track to miss their schedules.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019ll certainly be a setback,\u201d said Adm. James Kilby.<\/p>\n\n\n\t