WASHINGTON (Sputnik) — The sequestration crisis also added $56.7 million to costs of US Navy's P-8A aircraft program, the GAO report said.
“Some actions decreased the forces and equipment ready for contingencies,” the report, released on Wednesday, said.
In March 2013, US President Barack Obama ordered across-the-board spending reductions, known as sequestration, for all US federal agencies and departments because of spending limits imposed by the Republican-controlled Congress.
“[T]he Navy cancelled or delayed some planned ship deployments, which resulted in a 10 percent decrease in its deployed forces worldwide.”
Overall, the US Department of Defense's discretionary resources were reduced by about $37.2 billion over the remainder of Fiscal Year 2013, the GAO said.
The Government Accountability Office is an independent agency that works for Congress and investigates how the US federal government spends taxpayer dollars.
