Carter sends Congress a warning on 'unprecedented' CR

Defense Secretary Ash Carter sent Congress a letter this week warning that passage of another stopgap funding measure, or continuing resolution, would hamper the Pentagon, noting that he has received information that lawmakers are considering a CR that would stretch into May, rather than the end of March as has publicly been proposed by House appropriators.

"I am particularly troubled by information that Congress may be considering a CR through May," he wrote in his Nov. 29 letter. "A short-term CR is bad enough, but a CR through May means DOD would have to operate under its constraints for two-thirds of the fiscal year. This is unprecedented and unacceptable, especially when we have so many troops operating in harm's way. I strongly urge Congress to reject this approach."

Jennifer Hing, a spokeswoman for the House Appropriations Committee, said the Senate "has been pushing for a longer extension," adding: "A firm date has not been decided as far as I know. That is a leadership call, not us."

The federal government is currently operating under a CR that expires Dec. 9. Standard legislative rules for stopgap spending measures bar increased weapon system production rates and prohibit the start of new programs. House Appropriations Committee Chairman Hal Rogers (R-KY) has said lawmakers intend to propose another CR that would last until the end of March, thereby putting funding decisions in the hands of the incoming Trump administration and a newly elected Congress.

Carter wrote that the Pentagon was facing an unprecedented situation.

"We have never been governed by a continuing resolution during a presidential transition, nor have we had a CR for DOD that went as late as May," he wrote. "On behalf of the men and women who are working to manage this institution under extraordinary circumstances, I urge you to come together and limit the duration of any CR."

Meanwhile, the Pentagon has sent Congress a list of high-priority programs that would need to be granted "anomaly" status under any CR that extends beyond Dec. 9, including the Air Force's KC-46 tanker and the Navy's Ohio-class replacement effort.

Carter's letter states the most "problematic shortfalls DOD would face in a long-term CR" are in the operations and munitions accounts for counterterrorism assistance in Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria. The Pentagon's plans to quadruple the European Reassurance Initiative would also be "hamstrung," Carter wrote, adding: "These are areas we cannot afford to short-change."

Carter said the FY-17 budget requests funding for 57 new-start programs and 86 production increases, all of which would be delayed for the duration of a CR.

"As a result, the CR would undermine critical programs such as the KC-46 Tanker, Apache and Black Hawk helicopter procurements, and the Ohio Replacement submarine," he wrote. "Failure to continue these programs as planned will cost the taxpayer hundreds of millions of dollars in needless contractual penalties."

Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman John McCain (R-AZ) released a copy of Carter's letter on Wednesday, and his office released a statement the senator made on the Senate floor Nov. 17 urging Congress to pass a full-year appropriations package.

"A continuing resolution would lock our military into last year’s budget and last year's priorities," McCain said at the time. "A continuing resolution would place our troops at greater risk by forcing them to operate under an outdated budget that does not recognize the full extent of the threats they face. Worse still, a continuing resolution doesn't quite live up to its name. A continuing resolution would actually cut funds for our troops."