The INSIDER daily digest -- Sept. 4, 2018

By John Liang / September 4, 2018 at 2:22 PM

This Tuesday INSIDER Daily Digest looks at the FY-19 defense spending bill as well as the Missile Defense Agency's efforts to revive a program meant to intercept a boosting ballistic missile with a laser.

House and Senate lawmakers have precious few legislative days to pass the multibillion-dollar fiscal year 2019 defense spending bill:

Defense spending bill on the line as Congress aims to beat fiscal year buzzer

Congress returns to Washington this week with 11 legislative days left before the end of the fiscal year, leaving lawmakers little time to compromise on several spending bills, including one to fund the Pentagon, or pass a stopgap continuing resolution to stave off a government shutdown.

In case you missed it, the White House had several objections to the Senate's version of the defense spending bill:

Trump administration notes objections to Senate defense spending bill

The White House "strongly objects" to a measure in the Senate's fiscal year 2019 defense appropriations bill that would add $475 million to procure a second Littoral Combat Ship, as well as host of other provisions, according to a statement of administration policy submitted to Congress in August.

And in other recent budget news, the Congressional Budget Office took a look at future defense budgets:

CBO: Statutory budget caps limit Pentagon base budget to $550B, $563B in FY-20, FY-21

The Pentagon's fiscal years 2020 and 2021 base budget allocations will total $550 billion and $563 billion respectively -- dramatically below Trump administration plans -- if discretionary spending caps required by the 2011 Budget Control Act for those two years are not adjusted, according to a new report from the Congressional Budget Office.

Document: CBO's statutory budget cap report

The Missile Defense Agency is continuing its efforts to revive a program meant to intercept a boosting ballistic missile with a laser:

MDA advances new airborne laser project with second round of contract awards

The Missile Defense Agency has awarded a new round of contracts to a trio of defense firms drafting new airborne laser proposals, advancing the Pentagon objective to field an unmanned aerial vehicle armed with a speed-of-light weapon to shoot down enemy ballistic missiles by the early 2020s.

For a walk down memory lane, check out this related story from 2009 on why the Pentagon decided to ax the original Airborne Laser:

Gates Proposes $1.4 Billion in Missile Defense Cuts

Defense Secretary Robert Gates in April 2009 called for a $1.4 billion cut to the Missile Defense Agency's proposed budget for fiscal year 2010, as well as the cancellation of the Multiple Kill Vehicle program and the second Airborne Laser aircraft.

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