Congress now has until February to pass a defense spending bill for the current fiscal year. Until then, DOD’s budget is frozen at last year’s levels, which did not account for troop movements in the Middle East, as Politico reported.

“Neither the base budget request nor the fiscal year 2024 supplemental request included funding for U.S. operations related to Israel,” DOD spokesman Chris Sherwood said. “We’re taking it out of hide.”

Deputy Defense Secretary Kathleen Hicks estimated the impact of keeping the Pentagon under a continuing resolution is about a $35 billion cut, according to the article.

“We’ve gotten used to getting by, CR to CR, but it’s with significant consequence,” Hicks said at an event last week. “That has a cost. You can’t buy back the time. You just can’t.”

DOD photo by Air Force Tech. Sgt. Jack Sanders