If a continuing resolution is absolutely necessary, as some lawmakers have indicated, the Defense Department is urging Congress to make it as short as possible. “The shorter the better,” said Frank Kendall, under?secretary of defense for acquisition, technology, and logistics, at the ComDef 2015 conference in Washington, D.C., on Wednesday. Kendall said DOD needs lawmakers to reach a long-term funding compromise, so the department can make long-term budget decisions with more certainty in the future. While the department will “do the best we can” with whatever Congress and President Obama decide on, a budget decision is preferable over a long-term CR, he said. Congress also should avoid “anomalies”—specific provisions in a CR that would allow the department to move forward on acquisition programs, because more provisions such as these make it easier for Congress to pass continuing resolutions, he said. “We’re trying not to do that, we are trying to get actual bills,” Kendall said.
The U.S. military is maintaining a beefed-up presence in the Middle East, including fighters and air defense assets, following the U.S. strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities June 22 and subsequent retaliation by the Iranians against Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar.
