McCain: Carter will present Obama’s Pentagon budget

The chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee on Thursday said Ashton Carter, President Obama’s nominee for Defense secretary, will present the Pentagon’s budget for fiscal 2016 to lawmakers next month.

“It’s going to be Carter, so we’re going to delay it some,” Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) told reporters on Thursday.

{mosads}He said Carter and Gen. Martin Dempsey, Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman, would present the budget request to the panel during the first week of March.

The Obama administration is expected to roll out its fiscal 2016 budget blueprint on Feb. 2.

A month-long delay would help Carter familiarize himself with the ins and outs of the request, including the toll sequestration could take on the Department of Defense if a budget solution is not reached.

McCain had previously said he thought current Pentagon chief Chuck Hagel should deliver the Pentagon’s spending request.

But with Carter’s nomination hearing taking place on Feb. 4, McCain is now signaling that Carter could be swiftly confirmed by the Senate next month.

The nominee has been making the rounds on Capitol Hill this week. He met with McCain on Tuesday and sat down with Armed Services panel members Sens. Angus King (I-Maine) and Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.) on Wednesday.

Carter is set to meet with Sen. Jack Reed (R.I.), the panel’s top Democrat, on Thursday.