[updated 3:45 pm with Todd Harrison’s analysis] CAPITOL HILL: Last month’s congressionally mandated OMB report on the impact of sequestration omitted an obscure provision that would slice another $10.1 billion from Defense Department programs in 2013. Because of that the Pentagon would have to cut $60.6 billion instead of $50.5 billion, a 20 percent increase.… Keep reading →

WASHINGTON: On the margins of the $550-plus billion defense budget, the Army and the defense industry are quietly working on a program that could potentially replace 3,000 geriatric armored vehicles. So far, in this year’s budget, Congress is going along, but the real money — and the real battle — loom in the years to… Keep reading →

WASHINGTON: Norm Dicks, one of the toughest and most engaging players in Congress, announced today that he will not run for Congress again after 36 years serving his country. Dicks became best known in recent years for his hard-edged and sometimes unquestioning support for Boeing on the House Appropriations defense subcommittee. His advocacy of the… Keep reading →

The final debt plan being considered by Congress punts the issue of defense spending to a super-committee of legislators. Composed of an equal number of Democrats and Republicans from both houses, these members will be charged with hashing out the details. Not only will this new process circumvent existing congressional appropriations process, it will also… Keep reading →