WASHINGTON (Sputnik) — The military services' accounts absorbed about 76 percent of the Defense Department’s reduction relative to other defense accounts, the GAO stated.
“[T]he Air Force cancelled or reduced participation in most of its planned large-scale Fiscal Year 2013 training events, and expects delayed achievement of longer-term readiness goals.”
In March 2013, US President Barack Obama ordered across-the-board spending reductions for all US federal agencies and departments because of spending limits imposed by the Republican-controlled Congress.
“As a result, the Department of Defense's discretionary resources were reduced by about $37.2 billion over the remainder of FY 2013.”
The Government Accountability Office is an independent, nonpartisan agency that works for Congress and investigates how the US federal government spends taxpayer dollars.