Federal Drive

DoD paying fair share in 2013 budget, defense expert says

Defense analyst Jim McAleese, principal at McAleese and Associates, offers insight on the proposed cuts to the Defense Department\'s budget.

Federal News Network Staff

February 16, 2012 11:58 am

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wfedstaff | June 4, 2015 5:32 pm

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By Mike O’Connell and Jolie Lee
Federal News Radio

The Defense Department needs to figure out how to make do with even less, if the President gets what he wants in the 2013 budget. The proposal would cut defense spending by $5 billion when compared with this year’s budget. It would also shift money around in a number of DoD accounts.

Defense analyst Jim McAleese, principal at McAleese and Associates, joined The Federal Drive with Tom Temin Thursday to offer his view on what the proposed cuts mean to Defense.

“Fundamentally, the department is being showcased as ‘everyone pays their fair share’ and the department is the crown jewel in demonstrating that,” McAleese said.

Today top DoD officials are meeting with House appropriators to have “programmatic discussions,” McAleese said.

What’s important to remember among the talk of defense cuts is that the reductions are more about a “flat-lining” of the DoD budget, he said. Also, the department will be “forfeiting future growth,” he said.

“The department will have to do more with the same amount,” McAleese said.

http://www.federalnewsradio.com/146/2746435/Pay-benefits-changes-part-of-2013-DoD-budget