The Senate Armed Services Committee is looking into the Defense Department’s contingency plans should sequestration slash $52 billion from its fiscal 2014 budget, Federal News Radio reported Tuesday.
Jack Moore writes Sen. Carl Levin (D-Mich.) and Sen. James Inhofe (R-Okla.) have asked Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel in a May 2 letter how the agency would address another round of possible sequestration.
“We believe that the identification of these specific reductions will serve both to help Congress and the department prepare for the possibility that we will be unable to avoid another round of sequestration and to show Congress and the public how unpalatable that outcome would be,” the letter stated.
The letter urged Hagel to provide budget reduction plans by July 1 because Levin and Inhofe hope this could help pressure the Congress to counter sequestration for the second year.
Moore writes another round of sequestration could occur next year if the White House and Congress fail to agree on budget measures.
The Pentagon’s budget for next year doesn’t include any cuts related to the sequester.
