A Senate panel has rejected a Pentagon request to open a new round of base closures.
With the House voting again to delay for a year the start of the Affordable Care Act and repealing a tax on medical devices that helps pay for the measure, a partial shutdown of the federal government this week appears nearer. The Senate is expected to take up and reject the bill when it convenes today, likely in the middle of the afternoon. Read More
Chief of Naval Operations (CNO) Adm. Jonathan Greenert testifies before the House Armed Services Committee on Sept. 18, 2013. US Navy Photo
Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Jonathan Greenert informally asked the House Armed Services Committee (HASC) for authority to shuffle $ 2 billion in Navy funds to shore up gaps in maintenance, operations and procurement the service would suffer in Fiscal Year 2014 under the current sequestration cuts, Greenert said as part of his testimony before the HASC on Wednesday. Read More
From the document:
In this statement I will explain the impacts of sequestration having occurred in FY 2013 and current law imposing reduced discretionary caps in future years, and why I believe these caps will preclude our ability to execute the 2012 Defense Strategic Guidance (DSG) in the long term. In the near term, sequestration in FY 2014 will negatively impact our readiness and investments, further degrading programs in all appropriations except military personnel. Combined with the prohibitions on transferring funds, increasing program quantities and starting new projects associated with a continuing resolution, these impacts will be considerably worse in FY 2014 than they were in FY 2013. Read More
USS Miami (SSN 755) enters dry dock to begin an engineered overhaul at Portsmouth Naval Shipyard, Maine. US Navy Photo
The Navy plans to inactivate the Los Angeles-class (SSN-688) arson damaged attack boat USS Miami (SSN-755) due to budget constraints, the service said in a statement provided to USNI News late Tuesday.
“The Navy notified Congress today of its intent to inactivate USS Miami as the prudent and fiscally responsible choice in the face of sequestration,” according to the Navy statement.
“Following a comprehensive damage assessment over the past year, the Navy now has a clearer picture of the work scope and cost of repairs to Miami resulting from an arson fire in 2012.” Read More
Adm. Jonathan Greenert briefs reporters at the Pentagon on the State of the Navy on July 19, 2013. Read More
USS Harry S. Truman (CVN-75) during a live-fire exercise in April. US Navy Photo
The Navy plans to deploy USS Harry S. Truman (CVN-75) on Monday from Naval Station Norfolk, Va. to the Middle East and the Mediterranean, Navy officials told USNI News on Thursday.
Truman — along with Arleigh Burke-class destroyers USS Bulkeley (DDG-84), USS Mason (DDG-87) and Ticonderoga-class cruisers USS Gettysburg (CG-64), USS San Jacinto (CG-56) — will relieve the Nimitz Carrier Strike Group (CSG), which is currently in the Navy’s Middle East-based 5th Fleet area of operations. Read More
USS Rentz (FFG-46) in 2009. US Navy Photo
The U.S. Navy will resume patrols for drug runners in the Caribbean and the Eastern Pacific after an almost four month hiatus due to budget cuts, Navy officials told USNI News on Monday.
Oliver Hazard Perry-class frigate USS Rentz (FFG-46) is set to travel to U.S. Southern Command in August for a six-month deployment, Navy 4th Fleet’s Lt. Cmdr. Corey Barker told USNI News. Read More
From the introduction from the June Department of Defense Report on the Joint Committee Sequestration for Fiscal Year 2013: This report summarizes the financial impact on the Department of Defense discretionary budget authority in Fiscal Year (FY) 2013 as a result of the Joint Committee Sequestration directed in the Presidential Order of March 1, 2013. Read More
USS Carl Vinson (CVN-70) pulls out of Naval Air Station North Island, Calif. on June, 4 2013. US Navy Photo
The dirty word spreading across the U.S. Navy and the larger defense establishment this year is “sequestration.” It was never supposed to happen, yet today it is the law of the land. Worse still, there appears to be no interest in Congress to repeal this legislation. That’s significant, since the longer this process goes on, the greater will be the cumulative damage on the long-term health and readiness of the U.S. Navy, as well as all of America’s military.
Sequestration was born out of the Budget Control Act of 2011, which stipulated that more than $900 billion in defense cuts over 10 years would begin automatically in 2013 unless Congress passed a long-term deficit reduction plan. This provision was considered so draconian that all agreed at the time that it would never be implemented. Think again. Read More
USS Porter shortly after its collision in August, 2012. US Navy Photo
The Navy issued a $49.4 million contract to fully fund the repairs to the USS Porter (DDG-78) putting aside one of the last iconic effects of a combined Fiscal Year 2013 Continuing Resolution and mandatory sequestration budget cuts, according to a Tuesday release from Naval Sea Systems Command. Read More
