Word is that the Administration may find big cuts—like the $32 billion proposed by Acting Defense Undersecretary Gordon England (DR 11/07/05)—to the defense budget hard to come by. If you hearken to a Bloomberg News Service report, it won’t be the Democrats curdling the Administration’s cream, but fellow Republicans. There are those who say we must maintain and even increase defense spending in light of the Global War on Terror. Then there’s the view that we must cut everywhere to help pay for the war and recent hurricanes. We haven’t heard the fat lady sing yet.
Senate and House leaders unveiled their compromise conference report for the 2024 National Defense Authorization Act on Dec. 7—and the annual defense policy bill is poised to pump the brakes on the Air Force’s plans to retire dozens of F-15E, F-16, and F-22 fighters in the coming years. The report, a combination…