Budget impasse disrupts funds for sub program

The stop-gap spending device that is financing the government has impeded the Navy’s long-awaited move to build two attack submarines this year for the first time since the 1980s, a top Pentagon official said Monday.

Deputy Defense Secretary William J. Lynn III warned senators, moreover, that extending the use of a so-called “continuing resolution” jeopardizes the construction cost savings that were supposed to be realized by purchasing two subs at once.

“There’s no question that we’ll spend more for the same goods if we do not receive funds in a timely way,” Lynn told the defense subcommittee of the Senate Appropriations Committee at a hearing called to assess the consequences of irregular spending procedures.

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