Army Leadership Seeks Dialogue With Hill

The Army’s top civilian and military leaders expressed a new willingness to work with Congress to ensure the service’s viability as a fighting force. Budget concerns, highlighted by sequestration-induced spending caps, necessitate the need for a good working relationship, Army Secretary John McHugh and Chief of Staff Gen. Raymond Odierno said, at a breakfast meeting with congressional leaders. The Association of the U.S. Army held the breakfast, as part of its 2014 annual meeting and exposition in Washington, D.C. “We need to do a better job of helping you do your job,” McHugh told the lawmakers and their staffers. “We need to have a good, solid discussion about how we are going to be funded in 2016,” Odierno said. Reduced budgets could force the Army to deploy troops who are not fully trained and equipped, both McHugh and Odierno said.