Funding to deal with fallout from the Office of Personnel Management data breach topped the list of programs the Pentagon would like to save if Congress passes a full year continuing resolution for fiscal 2016.
A continuing resolution would fund the Defense Department at the previous year’s level and could occur due to Congress’ difficulty in passing a defense budget this year. Under a continuing resolution, the Defense Department would be barred from starting new programs.
The department asked for special permission to transfer up to $300 million between programs to deal with the “unprecedented scope” of the OPM data breach, including covering the costs of credit monitoring for affected contractors, according to a list of must-have programs posted online by Defense News.
The list of programs to be saved includes space procurement, early funding for the Navy’s third Gerald R. Ford-class aircraft carrier, which will be named the Enterprise, and new military construction projects.
It also lists beginning construction of the joint light tactical vehicle as a priority. The recently-awarded contract to replace Humvees for the Army and Marine Corps is one of a number of new programs that could not even begin in fiscal 2016 under a continuing resolution, since they did not exist in fiscal 2015.
The list includes 14 new starts and eight production increases that would be affected by a continuing resolution, including procurement of new aircraft and upgrades to defense systems. Delaying the start of these programs could impact the entire planned production cycle and “potentially result in increased cost,” the document says.
Air Force Secretary Deborah Lee James said her service alone has about 50 programs that could be delayed under a continuing resolution.
“A full-year CR would provide for our Air Force, really for our military, even less money than the sequestration-level budget would provide,” James told reporters last week. “So all around, that would be a bad deal, and we need to get the full-up appropriation and the full-up authorization passed at roughly the president’s budget level.”
