{"id":26411,"date":"2021-04-09T09:00:00","date_gmt":"2021-04-09T09:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/uncategorized\/2021\/04\/09\/bidens-defense-budget-will-meet-traffic-jam-in-congress\/"},"modified":"2026-08-07T22:18:23","modified_gmt":"2026-08-07T22:18:23","slug":"bidens-defense-budget-will-meet-traffic-jam-in-congress","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/congress\/2021\/04\/09\/bidens-defense-budget-will-meet-traffic-jam-in-congress\/","title":{"rendered":"Biden\u2019s defense budget will meet \u2018traffic jam\u2019 in Congress"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

WASHINGTON \u2015 President Joe Biden will launch the annual budget and appropriations process Friday when he sends Congress his discretionary spending top line requests for fiscal 2022 \u2015 but Pentagon spending<\/a>, policy<\/a> and nominations<\/a> will be jostling for attention in a busy Congress.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Democrats, with control of Washington for the first time in years, have an ambitious agenda to pass big bills not normally seen in an administration\u2019s first year, including pandemic relief spending, two infrastructure spending packages, voting rights legislation and legislation to boost U.S. competitiveness with China.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhat\u2019s going to be different this year is we\u2019re facing a monumental legislative traffic jam,\u201d said Arnold Punaro, a former Senate Armed Services Committee staff director and the chairman of the board of the National Defense Industrial Association.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThose are going to be the priorities of the administration, and your traditional authorization and appropriation bills really can\u2019t get cranked up until we get the budget details \u2015 and we\u2019ll be lucky to see serious budget details before Memorial Day.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

New administrations often roll out their budget requests late in their first year, but this year\u2019s planning has been particularly difficult for Biden officials, they say, because the Trump appointees blocked the Biden landing team at the Pentagon from accessing budget documents until just before the inauguration.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Biden is unveiling his \u201ctop line\u201d request Friday. But because his detailed budget request with agency-by-agency budget estimates isn\u2019t expected until later this spring, it will be a challenge for the appropriations and authorizing committees to draft their bills for fiscal 2022.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That increases the likelihood Congress will miss its deadline to pass federal spending before the end of the fiscal year (Oct. 1) and will resort to at least one continuing resolution<\/a> to keep the government operating. These stopgap bills have become the norm, but they\u2019re unpopular with the Pentagon and the defense industry because they ban new-start defense programs and create instability.<\/p>\n\n\n\t