March 20, 2015

On Mar. 18, Secretary of Defense Ash Carter issued a dire warning to Congress if it fails to repeal sequestration: the military may start cutting pay.

The services have already begun to cap pay, providing nominal pay raises that fail to match private sector wage growth, but this is the first time the Department of Defense has talked of actually reducing base pay for servicemembers.

“Everything ... is on the table,” said Carter. “We could be forced to consider pay cuts, not just cuts in the growth of compensation.”

“No portion of our budget can remain inviolate.”

Defense hawks on both sides of the aisle are seeking relief from sequestration budget cuts.

For FY 2016, the administration asked for a $561 billion base defense budget —$38 billion over the mandatory sequestration caps. According to Carter, a defense budget that keeps sequester level funding in place will be met with a presidential veto.

That statement drew immediate criticism from republicans, many of whom have pushed for ways to boost military spending in 2016 while leaving budget caps in place for non-defense spending.

On Mar. 19, the House Budget Committee passed its FY 2016 budget. The proposed budget boosts defense spending by adding money to a wartime funding account to make up for caps on the Pentagon's base budget. The plan would keep defense spending under caps mandated by the 2011 Budget Control Act and provide $90 billion to the Pentagon's overseas contingency operations (OCO) account, which is not subject to sequestration caps.

Deficit hawks have complained about using budget gimmicks to exceed sequester caps.

“The defense department shouldn’t have to operate in this kind of uncertain budget environment,” said MOAA’s Deputy Director of Government Relations, Col. Phil Odom, USAF (Ret). “Defense planners need predictability and a repeal of sequestration. Failure to repeal sequestration puts national security at risk.”