Nellis’ Red Flag, Green Flag exercises to remain strong, official says

WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama on Tuesday submitted his final budget proposal to Congress with additional details on how it would affect the military, including Nellis Air Force Base in Nevada.

In a press briefing, Maj. Gen. Jim Martin, the Air Force budget director, said the service's fiscal year 2017 budget continues the readiness recovery from the current fiscal year and singled out that would keep the Red Flag and Green Flag exercises strong. Nellis conducts such exercises.

Martin's comments track Defense Secretary Ashton Carter's Feb. 4 comments during a visit to Nellis on the last leg of his pre-budget tour to several installations.

Carter pointed to the unique role Nellis plays in today's Air Force, specifically on training, and made it clear the Air Force base would be a priority in the president's last budget proposal.

"No other range is like it," Carter said, even citing the importance of its training in the defeat of ISIL.

He said Nellis could expect to see increased investments in the quality of its range, the intensity of its training, the number of exercises and the variety of aircraft that will be maintained at the base.

Even with the focus on readiness, Martin stressed the Air Force will remain up to a decade away from what the Pentagon calls "full spectrum readiness" and pointed out a number of tough choices such as a reduced number of F-35 advanced fighter jets.

His briefing, which came late in the day following those of the Department of Defense and the other services, was interrupted when Martin appeared to lose his balance and fall against the podium. After sitting down for a few moments, he walked out of the briefing room.

Obama's budget requested $582.7 billion in discretionary budget authority for the Department of Defense.

In remarks last week to Economic Club of Washington, D.C., Carter said his department would get about half of the entire budget's discretionary funding under Obama's proposal.

Still, key Republicans said the president's budget request shortchanged the Pentagon.

Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, said Obama's budget request would actually be less "in real dollars" than Congress enacted last year even though the U.S. military is confronting growing global threats.

McCain said his committee would review the president's request.

Other leading Republicans clearly viewed it as dead on arrival in Congress.

Even before the budget was released officially, Sen. Mike Enzi, R-Wyo., and Rep. Tom Price, R-Ga., chairmen of the Senate and House budget committees, served notice they will not hold a hearing with Obama's director of the Office of Management and Budget.

Enzi said the president failed to use his last budget to confront issues such as the debt and added his committee will use its time to focus on those issues.

Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid of Nevada suggested such a move was unprecedented.

White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest called the Budget chairmen's stance unfortunate, pointing to the areas in the budget that should generate bipartisan agreement such as cybersecurity.

Contact Jim Myers at jmyers@reviewjournal.com or 202-783-1760. Find him on Twitter: @myers_dc