Pentagon scrambles to fund Middle East troop surge, but faces challenges - POLITICO
Kyiv • UNN
The Pentagon is reallocating funds from training and operations to support additional deployments of troops and equipment in the Middle East following unforeseen Hamas attacks on Israel. The move could delay planned military activities due to a temporary measure freezing budgets at the previous year's level.
Additional US military support to prevent the expansion of the war in the Middle East is funded by a by a temporary measure that freezes spending at the previous year's level. Since no troop movements to the Middle East were planned, the Pentagon had to to withdraw money from existing service accounts, including training and operations funding and operations, which could lead to the postponement of activities planned for the year. This was written by Politico and reported by UNN.
Details
After the sudden terrorist attacks on Israel on October 7, the US Department of Defense decided to to send an additional aircraft carrier strike group to the Middle East, as well as air defense systems, fighter jets and hundreds of troops to prevent the conflict escalating into a regional war. The build-up of military forces in the in the Middle East has forced the military authorities and the US Central Command to to adjust the requirements for current and future operations based on this. In particular, to withdraw money from existing operations and maintenance accounts. This also means reducing the funds for training that the military had planned for the year.
Recent events have changed some of the operational assumptions used in the development of the President's FY2024 budget request. Specifically, neither the FY2024 base budget request nor the supplemental request included funding for U.S. operations related to Israel. (...) We're getting it out of the closet,"
President Joe Biden signed a stopgap measure in November to keep the government open until lawmakers can until lawmakers can agree on a full-year budget.
As of Tuesday the Defense Department said it was still working on releasing an estimate of the of the total cost of U.S. support for Israel, a burden that is now heavy as Pentagon is supporting Ukraine and Israel simultaneously.
According to Deputy Defense Secretary of Defense Kathleen Hicks, the consequences of the Pentagon's shutdown actually means that the department will cut spending by $35 billion. dollars.
The truth is is that trust is a two-way street, and we really have to believe that our partners in Congress can do what they need to do for us to achieve these goals,
To recap
Next week The US Senate plans to consider bills on aid to Israel and Ukraine, with Majority Leader Schumer pushing for bipartisan support despite disagreement over funding for security of the southern border.