Week ahead: Pentagon chief pushes for budget boost

Defense Secretary James Mattis will make his way to Capitol Hill for the second week in a row to hash out defense budget details.

Mattis is scheduled to meet Tuesday with the Senate Armed Services Committee in a closed briefing along with Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Joseph Dunford.

The briefing will likely focus on details of the $30 billion supplemental for the fiscal 2017 defense budget, as the amendment faces a steep uphill climb in the Senate.

The administration is asking for $24.9 billion for the base budget and $5.1 billion in a war fund known as the Overseas Contingency Operations (OCO) account.

But many are skeptical such an increase will pass. Putting that much in the base budget would require Congress to change the budget cap law or else the Pentagon would face steep automatic cuts known as sequestration.

{mosads}Failure to pass the supplemental could trigger a continuing resolution for the rest of the year. Congress has only several weeks left in session before the current CR expires on April 28.

Mattis and Dunford met on Wednesday with the Senate Appropriations defense subcommittee to fill in the details of how the money would be spent.

Mattis pushed for the budget increase and said the $30 billion — arrived at based on what the Pentagon thought it could accomplish with just six months left in the fiscal year — is needed to “to get our aircraft back in the air, our ships back to sea and our troops back in the field with refurbished or new equipment and proper training.”

Senators may also ask Mattis and Dunford for more details on a possible war authorization specific to the fight against the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS), which Mattis threw his support behind at the hearing.

“I would take no issue with the Congress stepping forward” with an authorization for the use of military force, Mattis told the Senate Appropriations defense subcommittee.

The closed-door hearing is scheduled for 2:30 p.m. Tuesday in the Office of Senate Security in the Capitol Visitors Center, room 217. 

A number of other high-profile hearings are also on tap next week.

The commander of U.S. European Command will testify before the House Armed Services Committee at 10 a.m. Tuesday at the Rayburn House Office Building, room 2118. http://bit.ly/2odoKFq

The House Foreign Affairs Committee will have a hearing on funding for foreign aid and diplomacy with testimony from outside experts at 10 a.m. Tuesday at Rayburn 2172. http://bit.ly/2nvmZX4

The Senate Foreign Relations Committee will have a hearing on U.S. policy on Iran with testimony from outside experts at 10:30 a.m. Tuesday at the Dirksen Senate Office Building, room 419. http://bit.ly/2nZ0yr5

A House Armed Services subcommittee will hold a hearing on naval strike fighters at 3:30 p.m. Tuesday at Rayburn 2212. http://bit.ly/2mziWd8

The general in charge of U.S. Central Command will testify before the House Armed Services Committee at 10 a.m. Wednesday at Rayburn 2118. http://bit.ly/2n7vh8q

Outside experts, including former New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson, will testify before a Senate Foreign Relations subpanel about U.S.-Mexican relations at 10:15 a.m. Wednesday at Dirksen 419. http://bit.ly/2nZ5L2f

The Senate Appropriations defense subcommittee will hold a hearing on defense health programs at 10:30 a.m. Wednesday at Dirksen 192. http://bit.ly/2mzjhg2

A House Armed Services subcommittee will have a hearing on threats to space assets at 2 p.m. Wednesday at the House Visitor Center, room 210. http://bit.ly/2nLIBiv

Another House Armed Services subpanel will hold a hearing on the military pilot shortage at 2 p.m. Wednesday at Rayburn 2118. http://bit.ly/2nvt7yq

A House Foreign Affairs subcommittee will have a hearing on Iran’s ballistic program with testimony from outside experts at 2 p.m. Wednesday at Rayburn 2172. http://bit.ly/2nvq7ST

A Senate Foreign Relations subcommittee will hold a hearing on security in the Asia-Pacific region with testimony from outside experts at 2:15 p.m. Wednesday at Dirksen 419. http://bit.ly/2mYCZgl

A Senate Armed Services subcommittee will have a hearing on the Pentagon’s industrial base at 2:15 p.m. Wednesday at the Russell Senate Office Building, room 232A. http://bit.ly/2nvFlHr

Prominent Russian opposition activist Vladimir Kara-Murza will testify before the Senate Appropriations subcommittee on State, foreign operations and related programs at 2:30 p.m. Wednesday at Dirksen 192. http://bit.ly/2nPPLTw

Another Senate Armed Services subpanel will hold a hearing on Air Force modernization at 3:30 p.m. Wednesday at Russell 222. http://bit.ly/2nPLOxU

The commander of U.S. Transportation Command will testify before the House Armed Services Committee at 9 a.m. Thursday at Rayburn 2118. http://bit.ly/2nZ3VhN

Former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright and former National Security Advisor Stephen Hadley will testify before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee at 10 a.m. Thursday at Dirksen 419. http://bit.ly/2odr0MZ

A House Armed Services subcommittee and a House Foreign Affairs subcommittee will hold a joint hearing on Russia’s violations of the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty at 10:30 a.m. Thursday at Rayburn 2172. http://bit.ly/2nvxDNN