Navy Faces Budget Shortfall Even If Sequester Goes Away

http://breakingdefense.com/2014/03/navy-faces-budget-shortfall-even-if-sequester-goes-away/



Our newest $5.6 billion dollar destroyer, the US Zumwalt

Navy Faces Budget Shortfall Even If Sequester Goes Away
By Otto Kreisher on March 04, 2014 at 5:55 PM

Even if Congress somehow rolls back sequestration, the Navy’s fiscal situation will be uncomfortably tight, like trying to steer a battleship through the Panama Canal. Under the president’s five-year budget plan — which assumes sequester away — the “real buying power” for the Navy and the Marine Corps declines after fiscal year 2016, the Navy Department’s official budget book admits. And the Navy budget director, Rear Adm. William Lescher, told reporters at the Pentagon today that if funding stays at sequestration levels, the Navy would lose $39 billion and “would not be able to execute the strategy.”

Although the ’15 request for $174.7 billion fits under the Budget Control Act caps, Navy spending jumps above the spending cap by $12 billion in fiscal year 2017 and stays well over the limit through FY19. Yet despite going over sequestration levels, the budgeted funding across the 2015-2019 Future Years Defense Plan (FYDP) is $38 billion less than envisioned in the FY14 request.

The Navy budget, similar to the overall DoD plan, focuses on improving readiness and global “presence,” which the Navy and Marine Corps claim as their primary reason to exist. That is reflected in a request for $46.8 billion in operations and maintenance funding, up slightly over the current year. Personnel spending at $45 billion also is higher, despite a continued reduction in Marine end strength to 182,700, while Navy personnel are leveling off at about 323,000: Pay and benefits per person are simply going up faster than the services are cutting people.

The Marine manning includes most of the additional 1,000 Marines Congress ordered for increased embassy security.