Furloughs may become way of life at Pentagon

Furloughs and other temporary budget patches could become a way of life for the Pentagon unless congressional Republicans and the White House reach a long-term budget deal.

Few think a decade of furloughs is the best way to close the budget deficit. Pentagon leaders this week suggested eliminating and prioritizing specific programs would be more efficient.

But the 2014 budgets from the House and Senate set defense spending at higher levels than what’s allowed by law, effectively ignoring this year’s mandatory spending cuts. President Obama’s budget is expected to take the same course when it is released on April 10.

Lawmakers and the Obama administration aren’t crafting budgets at the lower levels because no one wants to say politically what difficult choices need to be made to reduce defense spending by more than $40 billion annually, budget analysts say.