Army Says Congressional Spending Fights Threaten Recruitment

December 6, 2023

Democrats and Republicans on Capitol Hill are still trying to work out the details of a supplemental spending bill to fund aid and operations related to Ukraine, Israel, Taiwan and the U.S. border. The lack of additional funding is starting to strain the military services’ budgets, Army Under Secretary Gabe Camarillo said Saturday at the Reagan National Defense Forum.

“We in the Army, in our base budget, we are funding the operations costs to deploy our soldiers to provide that deterrence and reassurance mission in NATO and in CENTCOM,” Camarillo said during a panel on recruitment. “That is the same budget account that I need to use in order to place media buys months in advance for marketing and advertising, to surge events for recruiters in other parts of the country.”

Joint Chiefs of Staff Chair Gen. C.Q. Brown wrote in a letter to Congress last week that the military is also struggling with funding because of the series of continuing resolutions tying them to budgets drafted before the current situations were on the radar, as On Base reported.

Army photo by Staff Sgt. Ashley Low

December 6, 2023

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