Leaders of the House and Senate Armed Services Committees announced $5 billion in cuts to the Fiscal 2016 defense policy bill Tuesday, including $230 million from the Long-Range Strike Bomber program. The reductions, which impact more than 100 separate programs across the Defense Department, bring the defense authorization bill in line with the two-year budget deal signed by President Obama on Monday. The bomber reductions are due to the months-long delay of the LRS-B contract, according to a breakdown of the reductions posted on the HASC website. Northrop Grumman won the multi-billion dollar bomber contract, originally expected in the spring, on Oct. 27. A committee aide told Politico the reductions to the LRS-B program do not represent a lack of support from Capitol Hill.
Congress passed a continuing resolution to fund the federal government through Dec. 16, avoiding a shutdown but ensuring that the Pentagon and other federal agencies will yet again start the fiscal year without a new budget. The continuing resolution will mostly keep spending levels frozen at the previous fiscal year’s…