REDSTONE ARSENAL, Alabama -- The $1.1 trillion spending measure signed by the president Dec. 16, provides some predictability for the Army for fiscal year 2015, but the threat of sequestration in 2016 still looms, said Bobby Turzak, Army Materiel Command's deputy chief of staff for resource management.
"There is a threat of operational impact in fiscal year 2016 if sequestration is not repealed or mitigated," Turzak said.
While the measure lifts some apprehension, Turzak said the road ahead remains challenging.
"The reality of the future is the Army is getting smaller," Turzak said. Even so, operations must continue. "We have a lot of hard work ahead looking at reductions and efficiencies. We have to make those decisions."
The $10 billion the bill allocates to AMC accounts for about 7 percent of the total Army budget, Turzak said.
"That provides funding for operations and support to the war for the remaining fiscal year," he said. Despite the end of combat operations in Afghanistan, Turzak noted that the reset and retrograde of returning equipment still requires funding. "What it really does for us is provide predictable resources."
That predictability is welcome, Turzak said, recounting that this time last year, civilian employees were coming off a difficult year of furloughs and a government shutdown.
Soldiers and Department of Defense civilians will receive a 1 percent pay raise as part of the budget. The budget appropriates $160 billion to Veterans Affairs and about $5 billion for operations against the Islamic State militants in Iraq and Afghanistan.
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