The Pentagon, Lockheed Martin and various other defense contractors were giddy. They finally got that huge defense plus up they've been begging for. I told you that they had better get their minds right cause they have maybe two years before the budget gets slammed again. Seems like others agree. Check this out via Hill.
The Pentagon is on cloud nine with a major cash infusion on the way, but that euphoria could be short-lived.
After years of fighting, the Pentagon emerged victorious with a budget deal last week that gives defense spending a $165 billion hike over budget caps for the next two years.
It's a huge figure for a department that for years has argued it has been short-changed by the sequester — spending ceilings imposed by an Obama-era budget deal that curbed defense spending.
Instead, budget analysts and some lawmakers are questioning how long the money will last. The 2011 Budget Control Act, the law that created the sequester, actually continues to exist until 2021, meaning the budget ceilings hated by the Pentagon could still return.
"I've told our people, our military people that we're in pretty good shape in terms of fiscal years '18 and '19, but then what after that," said Sen. James Inhofe (R-Okla.), a senior member of the Senate Armed Services Committee. "And the answer is, 'I don't have that answer.' "
Story here.
Two years of huge piles of money and then after that the brakes will be pushed. Why? The possibility of a Democrat congress that will prioritize bread over bullets. A shaky world economy that many experts predicted before Trump was elected, that we would be facing another recession.
But even if none of that occurs we're still looking at the real monsters in the closet. America's budget deficit, the need to rebuild infrastructure and the massive tax cut that will demand something done.
Two short years to build the military of the future.
We've seen so many mistakes over the years...from our strategy in Iraq/Afghanistan to the LCS, F-35 and others...that we better hope they're taking this short opportunity to fix whatever they think is broken.
If it's wrong then let's hope they have the courage to change course. IF THEY'RE POSITIVE that they have it right then they should charge full steam ahead.
Either way, two years is all they got.
