Defense Secretary Leon Panetta and Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. Martin Dempsey testify before the House Budget Committee on the proposed FY2013 Budget for the Department of Defense.
The $525.4 billion request is about $5 million below the department's enacted budget for 2012 and calls for $486.9 billion in cuts by 2021.
The Committee examined the potential impact of further cuts under the last year's debt ceiling agreement known as the Budget Control Act. Under the act, the department could face additional cuts through sequestration if Congress cannot agree on a new plan for spending cuts or raising taxes. Secretary Panetta has said the Pentagon cannot handle those cuts without endangering national security.
“No budget can be balanced on the back of defense spending alone, even on the back of discretionary spending alone,” Panetta said Tuesday in a Senate budget hearing.