Pentagon to spend $100M before military budget for 2024 approved

The US Defense Department would get limited authority to start working on urgent new programs before they are officially funded under a provision in the proposed fiscal 2024 National Defense Authorization Act, Report informs referring to Defense News.

This legislative proposal, which the Air Force has strongly backed and refers to as “quickstart,” would allow services to start new programs or speed up existing efforts without Congress formally approving them. It’s meant to address the lengthy periods of time lost while services wait for lawmakers to pass their budgets - times during which the military can’t get started on new programs.

The final version of the NDAA, which House and Senate lawmakers hashed out in conference last week, would cap at $100 million the spending allowed under this proposal. That is a combined total for all of the military services and comes in lower than the $300 million included in the original proposal Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall backed earlier this year.

Before a service can use some of these funds to start a program, it will have to spell out to the defense secretary what the urgent or emergency national security need is, the cost, and why the program can’t wait until the budget is finished.