Pentagon Budget Request Sticks With Obama Priorities, Ignores Deficit Law (From Forbes)

The Pentagon today unveiled a $527 billion spending request for fiscal 2014 which sticks with the military priorities that President Obama enunciated last year. Surprisingly, it also sticks with the spending levels despite a deficit law that would require military expenditures to be about $50 billion lower for the year. The White House seems to be repeating the bet it made in the current year that bipartisan compromise on deficit reduction would avert sequestration mandates contained in the deficit law. That gamble did not pan out, and the military services therefore are scrambling to slash spending through September 30 — with detrimental consequences for readiness. But there’s good reason to think the bet is worth making again, because neither political party is enthused at the prospect of cutting the military budget. I have written a commentary for Forbes here.