The Pentagon’s top arms buyer on Monday said he expected U.S. lawmakers to agree in coming weeks to delay implementation of an additional $500 billion in automatic defense spending cuts that are due to start taking effect in January.
Undersecretary Frank Kendall for Acquisition, Technology and Logistics (AT&L) said the Defense Department had begun early planning for the process known as sequestration, which would cut the military’s budget by an extra $50 billion a year, on top of over $50 billion in annual cuts already on the books.
Planning was difficult because the Pentagon would not have much leeway to implement the cuts, Kendall said, noting that as written, the law would force the department to cut every budget account — except military personnel costs — and perhaps every single budget item, by just under 10 percent.
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