Highlights from Inside the Pentagon

Here's a few must-reads from this week's edition of Inside the Pentagon:

Defense Secretary Jim Mattis told Senate appropriators Wednesday that failing to add $30 billion to the Pentagon's coffers in fiscal year 2017 would further risk military readiness.

1. Full story: Mattis makes case for $30 billion increase to repair readiness gaps

Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman John McCain (R-AZ) and his House counterpart Rep. Mac Thornberry (R-TX) expect President Trump's fiscal year 2018 budget proposal, which would make steep cuts in domestic spending to boost defense funding, to fail in Congress.

2. Full story: McCain and Thornberry grappling with Trump's defense budget proposals

House Armed Services Committee ranking member Adam Smith (D-WA) has joined the growing chorus saying the Trump administration will run into trouble with securing its proposed budget.

3. Full story: HASC ranking member anticipates challenges in passing Trump's budget

A panel of House lawmakers on Tuesday debated how much could be saved by streamlining Pentagon business practices and, though they differed along partisan lines on what to do with the savings, a bipartisan consensus emerged that billions in waste could be slashed at a time when President Trump has proposed steep cuts to domestic spending to increase the Defense Department's budget.

4. Full story: Oversight panel eyes waste as Trump proposes domestic cuts to boost defense