Marine Corps Funding

The Senate Armed Services Committee's fiscal year 2015 defense authorization bill recommends adding $57.5 million for the Marine Corps' crisis response units, InsideDefense.com reported this morning:

The Marines submitted a request this spring to Congress of $47 million in its unfunded priority list for special-purpose Marine Air-Ground Task Force crisis response units supporting both U.S. Central Command and U.S. Southern Command.

Gen. John Paxton, assistant commandant of the Marine Corps, told Inside the Navy on March 26 that these units are purely "aspirational" given funding and manpower constraints.

Lawmakers on Capitol Hill have previously shown support for the special crisis-response units, spurred by the attack on U.S. facilities in Benghazi, Libya in September 2012 and the absence of a Marine Expeditionary Unit in the Mediterranean due to fiscal constraints. Last summer, House appropriators and authorizers each approved amendments to increase funding for the unit in U.S. Africa Command.

"Hopefully, the verbal and vocal support will translate into money," Paxton said, referring to the funding needed for the two additional units moving forward.

To view the committee's summary of the bill, click here.