Air Force Secretary Deborah Lee James said at a Bloomberg Government-hosted event last week that the branch is seeking $41 billion in additional funds to help manage sequestration cuts for fiscal year 2015, DoDBuzz reported Monday.
Richard Sisk writers that Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel’s five-year budget blueprint calls for a $115 billion increase in defense spending that is intended for sequester relief.
James told the conference the $41 billion figure is the sum of a $34 billion share in the larger defense spending package and $7 billion more from President Barack Obama’s planned $56 billion Growth and Opportunity Fund, Sisk reports.
She added that the extra funds would be used to ward off cuts to pay, benefits, weapons systems and readiness.
