Washington, D.C. – Representative Mac Thornberry (R-TX) and U.S. Senator John McCain (R-AZ), Chairmen of the House and Senate Armed Services Committees, released the following the statement today on negotiations for a budget deal to increase the defense spending caps:
“Large majorities on both sides of Congress have voted multiple times to support a $700 billion defense budget, including overwhelming, bipartisan votes in the House and Senate this week in support of the Fiscal Year 2018 National Defense Authorization Act. In addition, the President himself has endorsed a defense budget at this level.
“Through the National Defense Authorization Act, we believe that Congress has done its due diligence to authorize the appropriate level of funding based on threats, requirements, and missions. This was done following months of deliberative bipartisan oversight, hearings, and negotiations. We expect that any budget agreement will reflect the hard work that Congress has just completed and the reality of today’s dangerous world. We cannot ignore the warnings of Secretary Mattis and our uniformed commanders. This era of forcing our troops to do more with less must come to end. We call on the negotiators to meet Congress’s constitutional obligation to give our troops the resources they need. We must not only set the conditions to pass an appropriations bill at the FY18 NDAA level, we must also ensure the necessary growth in FY19. Without that, President Trump’s promise to rebuild our military will be impossible.”
Nov 17, 2017
Press Release