The week ahead: Budget day is here

He previewed some of the cuts, including a 100,000-troop
reduction over the next five years, an end to several weapons programs and a
delay in production for the F-35 fighter.

{mosads}Budget experts say the biggest questions that will get
answered Monday are how the cuts are divided between the services, how they
affect active-duty versus Guard and Reserve troops and how they are divided
between active-duty troops and retirees.

The 2013 budget reflects a military strategy shift that
President Obama announced last month, with a greater emphasis on the Navy and
Air Force as part of a shift to the Asia-Pacific region.

One thing that won’t be included in the budget is how the
Pentagon would deal with nearly $500 billion in automatic cuts through
sequestration, which is set to take effect in January 2013 — the middle of the
fiscal year.

Todd Harrison, a budget expert at the Center for Strategic
and Budgetary Assessments, said at a preview briefing last Wednesday that the
decision to ignore sequestration is a political one, because if the Pentagon
announces what would be cut in the scenario, it might make it more likely to
happen.

While sequestration is not included explicitly in the 2013 budget, it
is expected to come up early and often during Panetta and Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman
Gen. Martin Dempsey’s week on Capitol Hill.

Panetta and Dempsey are slated for back-to-back-to-back
hearings on the budget this week: Tuesday in Senate Armed Services, Wednesday
in House Armed Services and Thursday in the House Appropriations subcommittee
on Defense.

The services are also starting their hearings on the budget,
which will continue for several weeks as the House and Senate Armed Services
committees gear up for their authorization bills.

Navy Secretary Ray Mabus, Chief of Naval Operations Adm.
Jonathan Greenert and Marine Corps Commandant Gen. James Amos will testify
Thursday before House Armed Services, and Army Secretary John McHugh and Chief
of Staff Gen. Ray Odierno will appear Friday.

Also on Thursday, Sen. Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.) and House Armed
Services Committee Chairman Buck McKeon (R-Calif.) will appear at an American
Enterprise Institute event at the Capitol on the budget. They both have bills
to change the first year of sequestration spending, and have warned about the
danger of the cuts to the Pentagon.

Even without the budget, there’s plenty going on in Congress
this week on national security and foreign affairs.

On Thursday alone, the Senate Armed Services Committee is
holding a hearing on worldwide threats; the House Appropriations subcommittee
on Military Construction, Veterans Affairs and Related Agencies is examining
the quality of life in the military; the Senate Foreign Affairs Committee is
looking at Iran’s ambitions in Latin America; the Senate Homeland Security
Committee is taking up cybersecurity legislation; and the House Foreign Affairs
Committee is hosting its second day of hearings on the Arab Spring in Egypt.