By KATE BRANNEN
The House and Senate Armed Services Committees do not agree on the Pentagon’s $614 billion budget request for 2013.
In a draft letter, dated March 9, California Republican Rep. Buck McKeon, who serves as chairman of the House Armed Service Committee, argues the Defense Department’s budget needs to be increased for the military to meet its strategic goals.
Meanwhile, Sens. Carl Levin, D-Mich., and John McCain, R-Ariz., say they support the Pentagon’s requested funding levels, partly because they fit within the Budget Control Act’s cap on security spending.
That Budget Control Act passed in August sets security spending at $686 billion for 2013. That pot of money has to cover funding for the Defense Department as well as the State Department, the Department of Homeland Security, and the Department of Veterans Affairs.
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