Staff Reports
The top military leader says the U.S. security in Asia and military recruitment will suffer if Congress can’t get its act together and pass a full year’s appropriations bill. Air Force Gen. CQ Brown told lawmakers that doing the ol’ “copy and paste” of last year’s spending plan – they call it a continuing resolution – would leave the military short $5.8 billion for personnel and make it even harder to recruit for the armed forces. This would force the Defense Department to put the brakes on moving service members around and slow down bringing in new recruits because of the costs of giving the troops a 5.2% raise.
Joint Chiefs chairman warns Congress lack of full-year spending bill could add to recruiting woes https://t.co/Pj4yvzXDzk
— The Washington Times (@WashTimes) December 1, 2023
Gen. Brown is not a fan of this whole continuing resolution idea. He says it’s going to cost the nation’s armed forces a pretty penny and throw a wrench in their plans for the Indo-Pacific region. Plus, it would put the kibosh on a bunch of new programs and projects. In other words, it’s a big no-no.
He’s got some pals in Congress who have his back, including Sen. Susan Collins. She’s not mincing words either, saying the nation’s security is on the line if the Defense Department has to keep working with the same old spending plan. Like, hello, there are over 330 new programs and production boosts that would be stuck in limbo.
But wait, there’s more! If Congress doesn’t get its act together, it’s not just modernization efforts and national defense that would take a hit. The quality of life for our military peeps would also be on the chopping block, with key programs for service members and living conditions for sailors getting the short end of the stick.
So, it’s like Gen. Brown and his crew are sounding the alarm bells, saying, “Hey, Congress, time to put on your big kid pants and pass a real budget so we can keep things ship-shape around here!”
