Senate appropriations chairman opposes long-term CR extension

By Tony Bertuca / November 16, 2017 at 3:14 PM

Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Thad Cochran (R-MS) opposes extending the stopgap continuing resolution into next year and is urging lawmakers to reach a bipartisan spending deal before the current CR expires Dec. 8.

"The Senate Appropriations Committee has little time to finalize the regular appropriations bills, and to consider additional supplemental appropriations requests for defense and for natural disaster recovery," he said in statement. "We need a new budget deal to finish our work. Congress and the administration must reach agreement on acceptable topline funding levels for defense and non-defense programs."

Caps mandated by the 2011 Budget Control Act, Cochran said, do not allow the committee to "write a 2018 defense bill that fully meets our national security needs or reflects the priorities of the Senate."

Cochran said he plans to release chairman's marks next week for the four remaining fiscal year 2018 appropriations bills, including defense.

"I urge all parties to those negotiations to redouble their efforts to reach agreement," he continued.

The BCA limits base defense spending to $549 billion, but the authorization bill passed by the House and Senate would provide $626 billion in base defense funding, as well as $65.7 billion for DOD's Overseas Contingency Operations account.

Democrats have said they will insist on "parity" between any increases in defense and non-defense spending.

House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-WI) said earlier this week that Congress was aware of the adverse impact a long-term CR would have on the Defense Department, which would be locked into FY-17 spending levels and prohibited from starting new programs or increasing production rates.

"We're not talking about going into next year," he said. "We're talking about getting it done this year for many reasons, the military chief among them."

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