Defense Secretary James Mattis has urged Congress to authorize funds for the Defense Department to sustain military readiness efforts and carry out the National Defense Strategy in the field, DoD News reported Tuesday.

Mattis, a 2018 Wash100 recipient, told House Armed Services Committee members at a hearing Tuesday that the Budget Control Act and continuing resolutions have done more harm to military readiness than adversaries.

He called on legislators to eliminate defense spending caps as well as provide $700 billion in defense funds for fiscal year 2018 and authorize a $716 billion defense budget for FY 2019.

The House approved a continuing resolution that would allocate $659 billion in FY 2018 defense funds and maintain funding for civilian agencies at current levels through March 23.

Mattis added that a yearlong continuing resolution would prevent DoD from paying service members by the end of FY 2018; recruiting 15,000 soldiers and 4,000 airmen needed to fill manpower shortfalls; and conducting ship maintenance in a timely manner.

Continued budget uncertainty will also ground aircraft due to insufficient maintenance and spare parts; diminish ammunition, training and manpower required for combat operations; and postpone contract awards for modernization programs, Mattis noted.

The U.S. Navy has assembled a council tasked to oversee the implementation of reform efforts stemming from recommendations under submitted reports on past collision incidents.

Navy Undersecretary Thomas Modly and Adm. William Moran, vice chief of naval operations, serve as co-chairs to the Readiness Reform and Oversight Council that was found Jan. 30, the Navy said Friday.

The council’s founding charter states the task to “provide continuity to see reforms and recommendations through to effective completion, and thereby guard against similar future trends and challenges that adversely impact the Department of the Navy’s Readiness.”

Reports such as the Strategic Readiness Review and Comprehensive Review of Surface Force Incidents will be used as basis for the reform efforts that the council will supervise.

The Comprehensive Review of Surface Force Incidents consists of insights deducting the causes that led to ship collisions such as the one between USS Fitzgerald and Motor Vessel ACX Crystali.

Deputy Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan has said the National Defense Strategy was instrumental in the development of the Pentagon’s proposed budget for fiscal year 2019, Breaking Defense reported Tuesday.

“Tomorrow morning about nine o’clock eastern standard time, I’ll be sitting with the chairman and the secretary, signing off the implementation guidance that goes along with this (budget),” Shanahan said Tuesday at the AFCEA-USNI WEST conference in San Diego, California.

“We’re going to deliver the budget on time (with) Defense Planning Guidance (and) financial guidance,” he added.

He noted that the department tackled every area of the budget request in support of the strategy.

Shanahan told reporters the strategy seeks to introduce reforms to the U.S. military’s force deployment efforts and DoD’s cybersecurity standards.

DoD issued in January the National Defense Strategy that aims to address the “re-emergence of long-term strategic competition” and expand the competitive space through three lines of effort.

A treaty between U.S. and Russia that limits the two countries’ nuclear arsenal has taken effect on Monday, seven years after it was signed.

The State Department said Monday the U.S. government has fully complied with the Treaty on Measures for the Further Reduction and Limitation of Strategic Offensive Arms, or New START, since August 2017.

The department added that the U.S. government will confirm Russia’s compliance with New START through a scheduled data exchange.

The two countries have shared data on their strategic nuclear arsenals twice every year over the last seven years as part of the agreement and the next data exchange is slated to occur within the next month.

U.S. officials have conducted short-notice, on-site inspections at Russian military bases and facilities through the treaty to verify data on Russia’s strategic nuclear arsenal.

The State Department noted that the U.S. government will continue to implement New START in cooperation with Russia as well as support efforts to eliminate nuclear weapons worldwide.