Speculation is flying around the Beltway, if not in middle America, about the impact on defense of a potential Democratic Congress. Government Executive’s Megan Scully reports that Democratic leaders would shy from dramatic cuts to war funding or “trim overall defense spending.” A Democratic majority probably would not target the Future Combat System or the Joint Strike Fighter, but would look more closely at the Missile Defense System. Scully’s sources also believe the Navy could get a boost. On the other hand, senior defense analyst Loren Thompson of the Lexington Institute says in a new issue brief that research shows that “since 1976 Democratic control of the government has been a powerful predictor of declines in defense [research and procurement] outlays.”
House lawmakers unveiled a new reconciliation package July 15 with $60 billion for defense, $290 billion less than the Pentagon has been seeking, a day after a Senate vote to advance the annual defense policy bill failed—developments that show the perilous state of the Pentagon’s ambitious plans for fiscal 2027.