Pentagon chief sends military wish lists to Congress with reservations

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter on Monday sent Congress the military's annual "wish lists," including 12 Boeing Co F/A-18 fighter jets and 14 Lockheed Martin Corp F-35 fighter jets, but said he would not back any of the requests unless lawmakers passed a larger overall defense budget.

"Any extra program inserted into our budget submission will come at the expense of other programs we deemed more important, with ripple effects across the rest of the budget," Carter said in a letter, a copy of which was seen by Reuters.

Carter told lawmakers he was sending the lists of "unfunded priorities" to Congress as required under the fiscal 2013 defense policy law, but registered his concerns about any moves by Congress to restructure the Pentagon's budget request.

Lawmakers use the lists to insert their priorities and shape the Pentagon's budget request, but the fate of the fiscal 2016 defense budget remains uncertain given that the request already exceeds congressional budget caps by $34 billion.

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