Gates blasts Congress over gridlock

Former Defense Secretary Bob Gates took Congress to task today for its continued legislative paralysis over the future of the federal budget.

"As the saying used to go, 'It's a hell of a way to run a railroad,'" he told the Senate Armed Services Committee.

At present, Congress is operating under a continuing resolution set to expire Dec. 11, at which point the absence of a deal that would lift the 2011 Budget Control Act caps for defense and other areas of government could result in a government shutdown, or an extended CR that locks the Defense Department into BCA-level spending.

"Given the harm of all this politically driven madness inflicts on the U.S. military, the rhetoric coming from members of Congress about looking out for our men and women in uniform rings very hollow to me," Gates said. "All the smart defense reforms you can come up with will be of little use if the military is unable to plan, set priorities and manage its resources in sensible and strategic way."

Gates noted that he submitted five separate budgets to Congress in his time as defense secretary and that not one of them resulted in an appropriation for the beginning of the fiscal year.

"Hardly anybody in this city ever gets fired because they didn't do their job well enough," he said, noting that scandals and gaffes had resulted in far more Washington resignations than had poor performance.

Gates' criticism comes as Republicans and Democrats remain deadlocked over a fiscal year 2016 appropriations plan. The GOP has proposed spending bills that circumvent the BCA caps for defense, but honor them for all other areas of government. Democrats have vowed to block a bill that does not equally lift the caps, but anti-spending advocates in the House GOP's Freedom Caucus have pledged to oppose any bill that would do so.

Gates said the current state of congressional gridlock was embarrassing the United States in the eyes of the world.

"Our system of government -- as designed by the founders who wrote and negotiated the provisions of the Constitution -- is dependent on compromise to function," Gates said. "To do so is not selling out -- it's called 'governing.'"