Funding the Common Defense: Money Matters in the Modern American Congress

Abstract

America is at a crossroads. The military services are being asked to meet increased demands across the globe but lack a Congress that will put aside politically polarizing ideals in order to provide the leadership and budget certainty necessary to provide for the common defense. As a result, this study asks the question: Is Congress fulfilling its constitutional mandate to provide for the common defense? The conclusion is an unequivocal no. This conclusion is reached through the examination of two driving forces behind growing budget uncertainty: the increasing use of and length of Continuing Resolution Authority (CRA) and the 2011 Budget Control Act (BCA). The latter levies sequestration provisions on the military, specifically the Air Force. To begin, this study examines current national security strategies intended to inform the defense-budgetary process and looks at how the defense-budget process is designed to work.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Jun 01, 2015
Accession Number
AD1015767

Entities

People

  • Jennifer L. Saraceno

Organizations

  • Air University

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Biomedical
  • C4I
  • Cyber
  • Human Systems
  • Space
  • Weapons Technologies

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Air Force
  • Congress
  • Contingency Operations (Military)
  • Federal Budgets
  • Governments
  • House Of Representatives
  • Law
  • Military Budgets
  • Military Science
  • National Governments
  • National Politics
  • National Security
  • Political Systems
  • Public Policy
  • United States
  • United States Government
  • Warfare

Fields of Study

  • Political science

Readers

  • Defense Technology Research and Development.
  • Educational Psychology
  • Public Financial Management and Budgeting