Mattis heading to Capitol Hill to discuss budget

Defense Secretary Jim Mattis and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Joseph Dunford are slated to testify March 22 before the Senate Appropriations defense subcommittee on the Defense Department's budget.

The hearing, which will be Mattis' first since becoming defense secretary, comes as the White House has released a budget blueprint for fiscal year 2018 and an FY-17 budgetary amendment.

The FY-18 blueprint calls for a $603 billion base budget for national defense and $65 billion for the Overseas Contingency Operations account, while the FY-17 amendment will boost base defense spending by $25 billion and add $5 billion in OCO funds. The amendment would also cut $18 billion in FY-17 non-defense spending and invest $3 billion in border security, measures that have been likened to a "poison pill" that could lead to a government shutdown.

Specifically, the FY-17 amendment seeks to add $13.4 billion for procurement, lifting base budget spending on new weapons to $116 billion, and adding $2 billion for research and development programs, while the $5 billion OCO increase includes $1 billion for procurement and $359 million for R&D efforts.