The 2011 Budget Control Act (BCA)\u00a0has been no friend to the Department of Defense. Since its passage, the department has experienced sequestration, shutdown, furloughs and more. The resulting turmoil has harmed mission effectiveness, especially in 2013 when sequestration reduced training funds, said Todd Harrison, of the Center for Security and International Studies.
Politicians on both sides of the aisle continue to call for the repeal of “sequestration” \u2014 the automatic cuts triggered if the budget caps are exceeded. Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton lamented at a campaign event in August, “The sequester makes our country less secure,” and, “We cannot impose arbitrary limits on something as important as our military. That makes no sense at all.” Weeks ago, Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump\u2019s running-mate, Indiana Gov. Mike Pence, told Fox News that he and Trump were “deeply committed to rebuilding our military and ending those automatic cuts in the Department of Defense that are in place,” a prospect he said would be no problem with Republican majorities in both chambers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
With the Nov. 8 election looming, not only are those majorities an uncertain prospect, but Pence glossed over divisions between budget hawks and military hawks in the GOP, which muddy the likelihood of repeal. The conservative Heritage Foundation in 2015 lauded the BCA for shrinking government, sparking jobs growth and a decrease in federal outlays from $3.603 trillion in 2011 to $3.506 trillion in 2014. And the conservative House Freedom Caucus has repeatedly fought efforts to ease BCA caps\u2014though how formidable it will be after the election is an open question, too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n