Publications

This report summarizes the findings of two Strategic Choices Exercises hosted by The Ronald Reagan Institute and CSBA in October 2020, convening a bipartisan group of senior defense and budget experts, current and former policy makers, and industry leaders. The initiative was supported by the National Defense Industrial Association.

On 1 October, the U.S. federal government ushers in its Fiscal Year (FY) 2020. If policymakers approve the $738 billion national defense budget – the amount agreed to by the White House and Congressional leaders in a July 2019 agreement – military spending will have increased in real terms for the fifth consecutive year.

It is far from smooth sailing for the European Deterrence Initiative (EDI) as it confronts risks to the way in which it is funded. This brief seeks to explain why the EDI was started, what it funds, and the budgetary challenges it faces to its implementation and sustainment.

President Trump’s FY 2018 defense budget promises a “historic” defense buildup. At $603 billion in the base national defense budget, some $54 billion over the Budget Control Act caps, it grows the size of military slightly and boosts RDT&E efforts, but doesn’t move the needle on procurement. Does the FY 2018 budget request build the military the U.S. needs? Will Congress succeed in funding more for defense?

Each year, the Department of Defense (DoD) submits Selected Acquisition Reports (SARs) to Congress detailing the status, plans, procurement quantities, and funding requirements for each Major Defense Acquisition Program (MDAP). These represent DoD’s largest and most expensive acquisition efforts. The most recent unclassified SARs, which were submitted in December 2016 and are consistent with the President’s FY 2018 budget request, include 87 programs, some of which extend more than 20 years into the future.

Congressional Steel Caucus Chairman Tim Murphy (R-PA) and Vice Chairman Pete Visclosky (D-IN) hosted the Steel Caucus annual hearing, “America Rebounding: Steel in 2017 and Beyond.” The purpose of the hearing was to provide Members with the opportunity to ask questions and hear directly from steel industry stakeholders on the role steel is likely to play in national infrastructure projects under discussion, as well as other policies and developments impacting the success of the domestic steel industry.