Ellen Lord, undersecretary for acquisition and sustainment at the Department of Defense and a 2020 Wash100 Award winner, said DoD may have to take some funds from its modernization and readiness accounts if Congress fails to provide supplemental budget amid mounting COVID-19 pandemic-related claims from the defense industry, Defense News reported Wednesday.
“There’s a choice there,” Lord said Wednesday during a House Armed Services Committee hearing. “Whether we want to eat into readiness and modernization ― and slow down modernization or readiness on an ongoing basis ― or whether we want to remedy the situation in the next six months or so … and continue to have the ready forces we need for our national security.”
Lord noted the Pentagon would want Congress to approve a supplemental appropriations measure beyond its $740 billion budget request for fiscal year 2021.
