DoD Urges Congress to Pass FY18 Budget

By Jim Garamone DoD News, Defense Media Activity

WASHINGTON, Dec. 6, 2017 — The Pentagon urged Congress to pass the Fiscal Year 2018 Defense Appropriations Bill before the current continuing resolution expires on Friday.

Pentagon spokesman Army Col. Robert Manning said the men and women of the department deserve the certainty such a move would make.

“To be very clear, continuing resolutions are wasteful and inefficient,” Manning told Pentagon reporters today. “Continuing resolutions immediately disrupt training, impede readiness recovery, delay maintenance, impose uncertainty on the workforce and induce inefficient and constrained contracting practices.”

Continuing Resolution

The department is under a continuing resolution now. A continuing resolution is designed to be a short, stopgap measure to allow Congress to finish work on pending appropriations bills. Continuing resolutions provide funding at the level most recently approved -- in this case the funding level for fiscal 2017. During a continuing resolution, the department cannot begin new programs or new construction.

“The longer [continuing resolutions] last, the more damage they do,” Manning said. “A stable and robust defense spending bill received on time is critical to the Department of Defense both now, and in the years to come.”