Army

OVERNIGHT DEFENSE: Dire warnings at Army conference

by Jeremy Herb 10/21/13 10:39 PM ET

Odierno said the Army hoped to have seven brigade combat teams trained by June,
and noted that the number was independent of brigades deploying to Afghanistan,
although they aren’t receiving combat preparations because they are taking on
an advisory mission.

Nevertheless, the dire warnings from Odierno and McHugh
underscored the uncertainty facing the Army and the rest of the military as it
grapples with the possibility that sequester is here to stay.

{mosads}The two were pessimistic about the budget hand they’ve been
dealt, from the shutdown to living under a continuing resolution for the
foreseeable future to the two-week government shutdown.

“In short, we’re forced to rob Peter to pay Paul, and
then Paul got furloughed,” McHugh said in his keynote address starting off the
conference Monday.

The Army leaders’ comments highlight the
pessimism emanating from the defense world that any relief is coming due to the uncertainty and the ill-planned budget cuts under sequestration.

The next round of sequestration is set to begin in January,
the same time the continuing resolution that passed last week to re-open the government expires,
but there’s few signs yet that some sort of sequestration relief for the
Pentagon would be able to pass Congress, even as a bicameral budget is set.

Despite the budget pessimism, the AUSA conference did exceed registration figures compared to last year, with more than 25,000 pre-registered, according to a spokesman.

Frelinghuysen in line
for defense panel chair: There does not appear to be a fight brewing in the
Appropriations Committee over who should succeed Rep. Bill Young (R-Fla.), who
died on Friday, as the Defense Appropriations subcommittee chairman.

Rep. Rodney Frelinghuysen (R-N.J.) is
expected to succeed Young, who served 22
terms in Congress, according to defense and congressional sources.

Frelinghuysen, currently chairman of the Energy and Water
Appropriations subcommittee, is now the longest-serving Republican on the
Defense Appropriations subpanel.

Rep. Jack Kingston (R-Ga.), who is also on the Defense
subcommittee, has more seniority on the full Appropriations panel. But Kingston
is running for Senate and is not expected to challenge Frelinghuysen for the
chairmanship, according to a House GOP aide.

House out of session
Thursday for Young funeral: The House will be out
of session on Thursday so members can attend Rep. Bill Young’s (R-Fla.)
funeral.

Young, 82, died on Friday at Walter Reed Medical Center due to complications
from an injury.

The former full Appropriations chairman and Defense Appropriations
subcommittee chairman served 22 terms in Congress, making him the longest-serving
Republican in the history of the House.

A public funeral for Young will be held Thursday afternoon
in Largo, Fla.

VA backlog dropped
during shutdown: There was lots of fighting over what occurred to
government functions like parks and monuments during the government
shutdown, but one potential repercussion at the Department of Veterans Affairs
did not come to fruition.

The VA disability claims backlog has
dropped by more than 10,000 claims from Sept. 30 through the first three
weeks of October, according to weekly data released by the VA Monday.

The claims backlog — for claims pending for more than 125 days — is now
at 411,704 claims, down from 421,793 in September.

VA Secretary Eric Shinseki had warned that progress had
stalled on the backlog because of the shutdown, as mandatory overtime was
suspended.

VA officials said that the backlog reduction was hampered as
a result, and noted that the claims backlog mostly flat-lined from Oct. 1
through Oct. 16.

Mandatory overtime is back, along with government operations, through at least Nov. 16.