In a newly published interview, Rep. Mac Thornberry (R – TX), the chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, says that he would support increasing taxes so long as it meant an increase in military spending.
Thornberry insisted this didn’t amount to advocating a tax increase as such, but recognized that the administration wouldn’t agree to his spending increases without increasing revenue, and that it was a “necessary compromise.”
Despite Rep. Thornberry claiming the Pentagon’s budget was facing sequestration cuts, Congress has repeatedly blocked actually following through on those cuts, and has increased military spending in recent years, just at a slower rate than the Pentagon wanted, and presented anything less than the hypothetical maximum as a “cut.”
Which seems to be working from Thornberry’s perspective, as he says that he is open to “pretty much anything” that the government could do to ensure that the Pentagon’s budget is sufficient for its myriad wars.