The article argues that Congress should act now to prevent America’s defense readiness gap from widening, because time lost in the budget process cannot be recovered later. It says the Pentagon is likely to operate under a continuing resolution into fiscal 2027, which delays critical munitions orders and industrial-base investments. The author recommends three steps: protect urgent munitions buys in the final CR, move reconciliation-funded munitions into regular funding, and force DoD to tie industrial-base spending to specific programs. The core message is that Congress can still buy weapons later, but it cannot buy back lost time.
