Ex-Pentagon budget chief warns of potential nightmare scenario

The Pentagon’s former budget chief is warning that a government-funding measure extending 2015 levels for an entire year would be a nightmare scenario.

“You can do it for a couple of months, it’s not a big deal. But doing that for a year would be a nightmare for the Department of Defense,” former Pentagon Comptroller Robert Hale said during an event at the Brookings Institution, according to the Washington Examiner.

{mosads}Hale said that if Congress cannot reach a new budget deal to lift spending ceilings by Oct. 1, the next best option would be appropriations bills at the sequestration level. Democrats, however, have blocked all of those bills because they adhere to those spending ceilings.

Hale warned that previous budget crises have caused low morale at the Defense Department.

“I think this may be the biggest wound caused by all this budgetary turmoil and one that lingers today,” he said.

No lawmaker has raised the possibility of a yearlong continuing resolution (CR) — a move that typically holds effect for just a few months.

GOP leaders have previously suggested a CR would be needed to buy time through the Oct. 1 funding deadline until lawmakers can hold a comprehensive fiscal negotiation.