With Connor O’Brien and Paul McLeary

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Quick Fix

— The Navy is preparing to delay or cut several programs as it begins crafting its longer-term budget, an internal memo reveals.

— Democrats are planning to fast-track the annual budget process to get spending bills passed this summer.

— The American and Russian presidents’ rocky history looms large over their upcoming summit.

HAPPY WEDNESDAY AND WELCOME TO MORNING DEFENSE, where we were a bit surprised to learn that the black market for MREs, those military-issue Meals Ready to Eat designed to last through armageddon, is apparently booming. There was a time when we lived on the tuna and noodles selection, which wasn’t half bad. Russian peacekeepers in Bosnia used to call the mini bottle of Tabasco sauce that came with it chemical warfare. We're always on the lookout for tips, pitches and feedback. Email us at [email protected], and follow on Twitter @bryandbender, @morningdefense and @politicopro.

On the Hill

SENATE PASSES CHINA BILL: The Senate on Tuesday passed bipartisan legislation aimed at countering China’s economic and geopolitical rise, though it faces an uphill climb in the House, POLITICO’s Sarah Ferris and Andrew Desiderio report for Pros.

The bill, which is a top priority for Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, passed in a 68-32 vote after weeks of partisan roadblocks.

The measure is aimed at helping U.S. companies better compete with China, and sets aside more than $250 billion for research grants and boosts semiconductor manufacturing, where the U.S. is falling behind Chinese production. It also outlines a strategy to address the national security threats emanating from Beijing.

Among the 31 Republicans opposing the bill was Jim Inhofe, the top GOP member of the Armed Services Committee, who called the legislation "incomplete" without an emphasis on defense funding to counter Beijing's military modernization.

"Choosing between technology and military priorities when it comes to competition with China is a false choice," Inhofe said. “The strongest signal we can send to deter China is by competing on all levels."

NEW: “Defense Primer: Emerging Technologies,” via Congressional Research Service.

CRUNCH TIME: House Democrats are moving quickly to get the budget process on track and pass government spending bills this summer, including annual Pentagon funding, POLITICO's Caitlin Emma reports for Pros.

Budget Committee Chair John Yarmuth plans to introduce a measure within the next week or so that sets forth about $1.5 trillion in government funding for the new fiscal year that starts Oct. 1 so appropriators can complete agency budgets. The resolution would cut through hours of debate, allowing Democratic leaders to meet their goal of passing budget bills by the end of July.

Yarmuth is also prepping a separate budget resolution that will include a blueprint for fast-tracking President Joe Biden's infrastructure and jobs priorities without GOP support, though the timing is unclear.

MORE BUDGET HEARINGS: Administration officials continue their testimony today in support of the fiscal 2022 defense budget.

The House Budget Committee holds a hearing with acting White House Office of Management and Budget Director Shalanda Young at 11 a.m.

The House Armed Services Readiness Subcommittee hears from the five vice chiefs of the military services on readiness at 3 p.m.

The Senate Armed Services Strategic Forces panel holds a hearing with Missile Defense Agency Director Vice Adm. Jon Hill and Northern Command chief Gen. Glen VanHerck at 4:30 p.m.

Related: Pacific commanders want more money for Biden’s Asia pivot, via Foreign Policy.

Happening Today

The Atlantic Council hosts a conversation on competition and deterrence with Gen. Tod Wolters, commander of NATO and U.S. European Command, at 2:15 p.m.

And the American Enterprise Institute hosts a discussion with Army Chief of Staff Gen. James McConville on transforming the Army at 3 p.m.

Pentagon

NIXING A NUKE? Acting Navy Secretary Thomas Harker has issued a memo directing the service to cancel development of a nuclear-armed cruise missile in fiscal 2023, a potential signal that the Biden administration could dial back some nuclear modernization programs, Aerospace Daily scooped on Tuesday.

The June 4 memo, also obtained by POLITICO, is part of preparations to craft a five-year spending plan. The memo declares that the Navy may have to choose either a new fighter jet, destroyer or submarine and delay two of them.

“The Navy cannot afford to simultaneously develop the next generation of air, surface, and subsurface platforms and must prioritize these programs balancing the cost of developing next-generation capabilities against maintaining current capabilities,” Harker wrote.

It “makes clear that budgets aren’t expected to increase enough in the coming years to undertake all of the modernization efforts envisioned by the Navy,” as our colleague Paul McLeary writes for Pros.

The news about the cruise missile comes as arms control advocates and progressive Democrats are complaining that Biden’s first defense budget doubled down on the Trump administration’s nuclear portfolio, including sticking with a low-yield warhead for submarines and funding development of the nuclear-armed cruise missile. The Navy has requested $5.2 million in research and development funding for fiscal 2022 for the cruise missile project.

‘Short-sighted’: Inhofe and Rep. Mike Rogers, the top Republican on the House Armed Services Committee, slammed the potential cancellation of the cruise missile before it completed a nuclear posture review as "bewildering and short-sighted.”

"We have serious questions for senior Pentagon leaders on this reported decision and how it was reached,” the pair said in a statement.

As far as the next-generation destroyer is concerned, Vice Adm. James Kilby, head of the Navy’s warfighting requirements office, doesn’t appear ready to give up the ship. He told the Senate Armed Services Committee on Tuesday that the vessel represents part of the fleet of the future “where we can add things like directed energy and other things. … So it's really a view to the future that I'm creating a platform that can be modernized.”

The memo comes out as Congress awaits a much-anticipated 30-year shipbuilding plan, which normally comes out with the annual budget but has yet to be released.

Related: U.S. Navy’s $166 billion attack-sub program sees more delays, via Bloomberg.

White House

‘I DON’T TRUST PUTIN’: That was then-Sen. Joe Biden’s take in 2001 soon after Vladimir Putin came to power in Russia. And it may say a lot for the president’s first summit next week, POLITICO’s Nahal Toosi reports for Pros.

“Biden’s public comments about Putin over the past two decades, as well as accounts from current and former U.S. officials, suggest that the U.S. president harbors a deep, lasting skepticism of the former KGB officer who found himself atop the Kremlin at the turn of the century,” she writes.

“There’s nothing Putin can do to make [the president] like him,” said one former U.S. official familiar with Russia policy. “Biden sees Putin as someone who is rational, thuggish — someone who is not confined by any sense of morality or concern over human rights or anything of that nature … just a cold, hard realistic assessment of the man.”

And no one is betting on any major breakthroughs. “This is not 2009,” a senior Biden administration official said. “We do not harbor any illusions about a broad basis of cooperation between our two countries, which I think animated some of the approach back then. We view this [summit] as an important tool to manage what will be a persistently difficult relationship.”

And: Why NATO should not offer Ukraine and Georgia membership action plans, via War on the Rocks.

Making Moves

Greg Hellman, a former public relations representative for CACI and a POLITICO alum, is now an integrated marketing manager at Leidos, focused on the defense market.

Speed Read

— WATCH: Directed-energy attacks: The invisible threat Congress wants answers on: POLITICO

— Delivery of Air Force One planes could be delayed until 2025: Defense News

— CBO compares cost of UAS and manned ISR aircraft: Acquisition Talk

— Capitol Police had intelligence indicating an armed invasion weeks before Jan. 6 riot, Senate probe finds, via The Washington Post.

— How a serving National Guardsman helped The Base plan a white power army: Southern Poverty Law Center

— DoD readies counterterror plan for post Afghanistan withdrawal: Breaking Defense

— Experts weigh in on Pentagon UFO report: Scientific American

— The Biden defense budget: the good, the bad, and the ugly: RearClear Defense

— From Hollywood to Hiroshima: Retracing my father’s cinematic journey: Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists

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