Courtesy of the sequester, the defense budget is due to decline around $52 billion next year, cutting about $500 billion from the current baseline over the next 10 years, unless Congress and the White House arrive at a different understanding about spending and revenue policies. Domestic discretionary spending is in for a similar hit without a budget bargain.
With Congress safely out of town until September 8, it is worth taking a look at the prospects for a deal. They haven’t been very good for the last three years, but, every once in a while, somebody pushes a phantom green shoot through the solid pavement of discord in Washington, and, briefly, people start to wonder.
The latest version of hope comes from Sen. Bob Corker (R-TN), who, with a new “gang” from the Senate, said he had been spending a lot of time with the White House Chief of Staff Denis McDonough, Deputy White House Chief of Staff for Policy Rob Nabors, and Office of Management and Budget Director Sylvia Matthews Burwell, according to John Bennett at Defense News.
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