Carter on Capitol Hill

Defense Secretary Ash Carter is testifying this morning before the Senate Armed Services Committee on U.S. national security challenges and ongoing military operations.

Here's an excerpt from his prepared testimony:

We're now eight days away from the end of the fiscal year, but instead of stability, we’re going into FY 2017 with yet another continuing resolution (CR).  This will be the eighth fiscal year in a row that’s started with a continuing resolution.  That’s a deplorable state of affairs in itself, as this committee has made clear – and Chairman McCain, I appreciate your comments to our Service Chiefs about the damage a CR does to our institution, as I appreciate that this committee has been among the leaders in advocating for both the resources needed for defense and the timely appropriations we need to execute our mission.

As you know and as you heard from the Chiefs last week, the longer a continuing resolution lasts, the more damaging it is – it makes the obvious mistake of having us do this year exactly what we did last year, despite the fact that we’re trying to evolve and innovate to stay ahead in a changing world.  It’s not just a matter of money, but where the dollars are. For example, even a short-term CR slows our shipbuilding program, which is line appropriated, thereby preventing the Navy from moving forward on key programs and capabilities.  And it gets worse after three months – for example, the FY 2017 defense budget quadrupled funding for our European Reassurance Initiative in order to help deter Russian aggression, but a continuing resolution extending past December would undermine our ability to build up prepositioned stocks of equipment and warfighting gear in the countries of our NATO allies. That would have great strategic consequences.