The News

mcclatchydc.com — In an effort to deter potential budget cuts by Congress and streamline a burgeoning Defense Department, Secretary of Defense Robert Gates Monday proposed to cut spending on contracting, to close a command stationed in Norfolk, Va., and to reduce the number of flag officers and civilian leaders.

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usatoday.com — Defense Secretary Robert Gates announced plans Monday to slash the Pentagon's reliance on contractors and eliminate a major command in order to save money to fight the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq and to modernize the military.

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nytimes.com — Even as political pressure grows to reduce the federal budget deficit, a blue-ribbon board led by former top national security officials called on Thursday for more spending on weapons systems.

The panel warned that efforts by the defense secretary, Robert M. Gates, to cut waste would not free enough money to modernize aging ships and planes and close a “growing gap” between the size of the military and its missions.

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nytimes.com — Despite increasing calls from lawmakers for deficit reduction, one military program opposed by the White House and Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates — an alternate engine for the joint strike fighter — so far refuses to die.

Even as Mr. Gates steps up his efforts to tighten Pentagon contracting, House members are expected to rebuff him once again on Tuesday on the engine, one of the main programs he has vowed to kill.

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politico.com — The Senate sent back to the House Thursday night a stripped-down $59 billion war funding bill, after striking all of the added education assistance which Democrats had wanted to avert threatened teacher layoffs in the fall.

With the August recess looming, Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Cal.) faces growing pressure from the White House and Pentagon to accept the Senate verdict and not prolong the fight any further. A final decision has yet to be made, but the Senate 51-46 roll call was devastating, showing the House that less than half the senators were on its side.

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wonkroom.thinkprogress.org — Last month, the House of Representatives passed the fiscal year 2011 defense authorization, including funding for a second engine for the F-35 fighter jet that the Department of Defense has repeatedly said it doesn’t want. Defense Secretary Robert Gates has gone so far as to recommended that President Obama veto the defense authorization if it includes money for the “costly and unnecessary” engine. But still, the House approved it, bowing to the efforts of 13 different lobbying firms and defense contractors across the country.

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