WASHINGTON -- Senator Carl Levin, D-Mich., chairman of the Committee on Armed Services, and Ranking Member Jim Inhofe, R-Okla., announced today that the committee has completed its markup of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for Fiscal Year (FY) 2014. The committee voted 23-3 to report the bill, which authorizes funding for the Department of Defense (DOD) and the national security programs of the Department of Energy (DOE). “This bipartisan bill provides for our nation’s defense and upholds our obligations to our men and women in uniform and their families. The committee adopted important measures to address readiness problems caused by sequestration and to require the Department of Defense to cut costs and operate more efficiently” Levin said.

If sequestration continues into fiscal year 2014, the Defense Department will be forced to consider involuntary reductions-in-force for the civilian workforce, draconian cuts to military personnel accounts and a virtual halt to military modernization, Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel said in a letter to Senate leaders July 10. The senators had requested detailed information on how continued sequestration could affect the military.

n the letter, Hagel detailed the "Plan B" the department must confront if Congress does not pass legislation that averts sequestration in fiscal 2014. If the process continues, DOD will be forced to cut $52 billion more from the budget that year. Hagel stressed in the letter that he fully supports President Barack Obama's fiscal 2014 budget request and noted that if sequestration remains in effect, "the size, readiness and technological superiority of our military will be reduced, placing at much greater risk the country's ability to meet our current national security commitments."