McAleese & Associates reported that the House on Saturday introduced a continuing resolution, or CR, to fund federal government operations at current fiscal 2024 funding levels through the end of September.
The current stopgap bill is set to expire on March 14.
CBS News reported that the House Rules Committee is expected to tackle the new stopgap measure on Monday. The bill is anticipated to be considered on the House floor on Tuesday to avert a government shutdown.
Jim McAleese, founder of McAleese & Associates and a three-time Wash100 Award winner, said the 99-page CR includes $8 billion in new funding for U.S. Central Command and U.S. European Command and appears to provide the Department of Defense with approximately $8 billion General Transfer Authority for 2025.
According to McAleese, the bill “appears to rescind historic prohibition against DOD new-starts” and directs the department to submit a formal spending or operating plan to both House and Senate Appropriations Subcommittees on Defense within 45 days of the measure’s enactment.
The GovCon Expert noted that an emergency review of the overall cuts to DOD’s FY 2025 funding suggests that the proposed $8 billion new funding might be funded through $1 billion to $3 billion of modest itemized cuts to each military branch.
Funding for Army, Other Defense Agencies Largely Intact
According to McAleese, funding for the U.S. Army and other DOD agencies remains intact.
The stopgap bill includes $24.8 billion for the Army’s aircraft and ammunition procurement efforts, reflecting a 2 percent increase from the military branch’s FY 2025 request.
The legislation proposes $14.3 billion for Army research, development, test and evaluation funding, up 1 percent from the requested RDT&E budget for FY 2025.
The Wash100 awardee said the measure proposes $2.4 billion for the completion of prior-year shipbuilding programs, up 26 percent from the FY 2025 request of $1.9 billion.
Air Force, Navy Targeted for Modest Cuts
Under the measure, the U.S. Air Force will receive $63.2 billion in funding for operations and maintenance, down $1.4 billion from the FY2025 request.
The CR includes $46.8 billion for USAF’s RDT&E budget, reflecting a 5 percent drop from the FY2025 funding request.
According to the McAleese report, the stopgap measure proposes $76 billion for U.S. Navy and U.S. Marine Corps procurement initiatives, down 1 percent from the FY 2025 requested budget of $77 billion.
Under the bill, the Navy and USMC operations and maintenance budgets demonstrate a 2 percent and 4 percent reduction, respectively, from FY2025 funding requests.
