WASHINGTON — While the Obama administration is set to release its 2012 budget request today, Congress still has not approved a final 2011 budget for the military. Now the Pentagon is warning that it faces a crisis situation.
For weeks, Defense Department officials have said that unless lawmakers pass the Obama administration’s 2011 budget request, they will be unable to start new weapons programs and may have to limit training, maintenance and even personnel pay. Officials also have said they will be forced to keep programs the Obama administration had sought to end, because funding has not been formally cut off.
The military is currently being funded through the most recent in a series of stopgap measures, known as continuing resolutions, that allow spending based on previously approved levels. The continuing resolution is up for another vote by March 4. The 2011 fiscal year began Oct. 1.
