Week ahead: Funding fight keeps Pentagon on edge

Congress has until next Wednesday to pass a spending bill or another short-term spending measure before the government, including the Pentagon, shuts down. 

Lawmakers are expected to unveil an overarching government spending bill, known as an omnibus, on Monday, though the release could be pushed until Tuesday, depending on how the negotiations progress.

{mosads}Work on the spending bill has been slowed by disagreements over major policy attachments such as lifting the crude oil export ban and halting the Syrian refugee program.  

But with the holiday season approaching, both parties are eager to get the legislation passed and leave Washington for the year. 

Pentagon officials are urging Congress to pass a spending measure, fearing that lawmakers will simply extend the short-term funding bill for the whole year. That scenario would leave the Pentagon with less money than agreed to under the Bipartisan Budget Act. 

Although it’s unlikely to happen, Defense Secretary Ashton Carter warned in a statement this week that delaying funding would harm the U.S.’s ability to fight the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS), and sends the wrong message to troops, allies and enemies. 

“There will be ample opportunities for extraneous policy fights in the future, but at this time, Congress must set aside such fights and prioritize our security by funding all of government,” Carter said. 

This week on the Hill, the Senate Armed Services Committee on Tuesday will consider nominations for under secretaries of the Navy, Air Force and Army.

On Wednesday, the House Foreign Affairs Committee will hear from the State Department’s special representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan on the future of U.S.-Pakistan relations.

Later that day, a House Foreign Affairs subcommittee will hold a hearing on Egypt two years after the ousting of Mohamed Morsi as president.

Also Wednesday, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee will hold a hearing on the administration’s strategy in Afghanistan.

The Council on Foreign Relations will host a conversation with Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.) on Monday afternoon. 

Also Monday, Deputy Secretary of Defense Robert Work and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Joseph Dunford will provide keynote addresses at the Center for a New American Security’s “Setting the Next Defense Agenda” forum.

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