Defense News quotes M.A. and George Lund Fellow for Emerging Defense Challenges Steven Grundman on what the 2016 US State of the Union will mean for the US defense budget:
The 2016-2017 budget agreement does not resolve the long-term federal fiscal outlook, and defense planners and companies should not somehow be lulled into thinking we’re now suddenly in a growth market. Guidance for the 2017 defense budget is again smaller than what the administration had been planning. Consequently, our defense establishment remains in a programmatic retrenchment, and its impact, while smaller than it would have been under the strictures of the Budget Control Act, are essentially “cuts.” Washington still needs to achieve a “grand bargain” that gives confidence to Americans (not to mention allies and competitors) that our political leaders have struck the right balance of taxes and debt to responsibly finance our obligations.