The Senate Armed Services Committee has given its go-ahead to cut $6 billion from the Defense Departmentâs 2012 budget, according to a report in Defense News.
The chairman of the panel, Sen. Carl Levin (D-Mich.), called the cut a âdown paymentâ on the a plan the White House introduced in the spring to cut $400 billion from the national security budget over 12 years.
Specifically, the cuts include about $1.1 from contracts and $1 billion from housing construction projects.
However, those cuts still have a way to go before becoming law, having to be reconciled with various other spending measures passed by congressional committees.
Last week, the House Appropriations Committee agreed to cuts of about $9 billion from the defense budget, providing a base DoD budget of $530 billion.
FierceGovernmentIT noted that many of the cuts in the House committeeâs version would affect technology programs.
For example, under the House plan, the Enhanced Medium Altitude Reconnaissance and Surveillance Systems program, would be cut by $523.9 million, to $15.67 million and research and development for the Joint Tactical Radio System would be cut by $53 million.