Congress Funded Peace Through Strength. Now It Must Finish the Job.

To date, the seminal achievement of the 119th session of Congress was to fund the defense budget the nation needs. The momentum started by this success is now in jeopardy. Three issues frame the budgetary situation for the Pentagon during the last quarter of the fiscal year. - Initially slow release and execution of the $150 billion reconciliation money risks an 8.3 percent sequester of any funds not obligated by the close of the fiscal year. - Unplanned contingencies in the Caribbean and the Middle East consumed resources, forcing decisions to cancel training, delay maintenance, and stall modernization until and unless Congress passes supplemental appropriations. - Political dynamics make crucial timely enactment of the full 2027 budget request difficult but necessary. These first two issues seem opposed: money is moving too slowly, yet money has run low. Moving reconciliation money to cover the operational shortfalls would appear to be an easy solution. It is not, and absent specific transfer authority from Congress, it is not possible. Further, trying to do so would only shift the root problem, impose future risk on the armed forces and further enable Congressional dysfunction. Instead, Congress should do what only it can do—pass the defense supplemental and full-year funding by the end of the fiscal year. Congress’ failure to act last fall shut down the government for the first 43 days of the fiscal year, leading to furloughed civilians and shameful and avoidable lost time and money. These furloughs and other workforce cuts delayed contracting. Additional delays caused by the slow release of funds, spend plan synchronization challenges with late enactment of full year appropriations and implementation of new acquisition strategies contributed to initial slow spending. According to official budget execution data (the SF-133 report), the Department obligated under 30 percent of mandatory money by the end of May. However, during April testimony Secretary Hegseth remarked that “the floodgates [are] about to open” directing program offices to obligate all funds before the end of the fiscal year. These funds are meant to fix long-standing investment gaps and are no substitute for supplemental appropriations. Contingency operations in the Caribbean (Southern Spear) and in the Middle East (Epic Fury) have understandably strained operational accounts. Yet, the SF-133s again tell a complicated story. Reviewing Pentagon execution data from 2017 through this May gives us a short history lesson. As Figure 1 shows, the enterprise Operations and Maintenance (O&M) obligation rate sits near the middle of its historical range at 57 percent. Figure 1 At the component level, the Navy, Air Force, and Marine Corps operational accounts, those most strained by unbudgeted operations, at 61, 61 and 58 percent respectively are also on the low end of recent historical spend rates. The Army’s rate as of the end of May is the lowest since 2017 at 54 percent. What could account for this discrepancy with leadership concerns? One answer, the armed forces are spending and projecting Epic Fury and Southern Spear costs before those obligations appear in the official, public report. This makes sense since the public obligation reports lag actual spending and don’t account for the pace of operations or pending requirements. The supplemental request includes $21.3 billion (more than 6 percent of the O&M budget) for readiness, operations, national guard support, and fuel. Adding 6 percentage points to any of the above, would push these rates above recent norms, validating uniformed leaders’ concerns. Another answer lies again with the hangover effects of budgetary uncertainty from previous years. Since 2010, Congress only enacted final appropriations on time once (2019). The cumulative and compounding impacts reached a zenith as the Department endured a year-long continuing resolution in FY 2025, and the FY 2026 discretionary budget was a flat extension of that year. As money moved to other priorities, the O&M accounts suffered a 7.7 percent cut plus 6.5 percent inflation. Even with the necessary increase in the total FY 2026 budget, O&M still lost ground, adding to years of neglect. There is no easy solution. Moving money from necessary activities continues to erode readiness, leading to fatal accidents and compounding issues in facility and equipment upkeep. Transferring money from Research and Procurement accounts undermines modernization efforts and disrupts momentum to rebuild the defense industrial base. Lastly, and perhaps most importantly, robbing readiness and modernization to pay for contingency operations puts American service members and security at risk, while allowing Congress to continue putting politics over duty. Instead, in the spirit of 1776, Congress must come together to first fund the $67.1 billion defense supplemental request and then the $1.5 trillion defense budget request by September 30th. Congress agrees America faces an unprecedented global threat environment. On-time, sufficient funding is foundational to meeting that threat. Congress must do the job it was elected to do, and that no one else can.