continuing non-resolution
Okay. The president’s new FY12 budget is getting a lot of press these days, but all that attention is perhaps distracting folks from something very important and significantly more urgent: Congress still hasn’t passed the FY11 budget. And we’re almost out of cash.
This is bad. The Navy Times colorfully reports:
As it stands, the Navy has less than three weeks left of a budget. No one knows what comes next. That uncertainty has left planners reconsidering yard repairs and scheduled projects on-the-fly. Already, the Navy has canceled five shipyard availabilities set for March and April, and as many as 29 are on the chopping block if Congress renews the funding extension, known as a continuing resolution, instead of passing the proposed budget.
Meanwhile, the service’s just-proposed budget for the next fiscal year, a part of the larger federal budget, seems certain to sail into gridlock in Congress. All this has left the sea service adrift, its top budget official warned.
“Right now, we are in uncharted waters,” Vice Adm. Terry Blake said Wednesday in a speech before the Washington, D.C., chapter of the Naval Academy Alumni Association. “We have three budgets in the air,” and the prospect of a year-long continuing resolution. He added, “We have never been in that situation before.”
Already fouling up the service’s finances, the cuts will get closer to the bone the longer the stopgap funding is in place. If it is extended through the year, for instance, the Navy couldn’t afford to pay sailors their final paycheck this year, Blake said.
For those of you who may be reading, and who may have sway with Congress: Please, fix this. It’s really not funny anymore.
