One of many supplementary funding bills that allows Congress to bypass sequestration budget limits on the military, President Obama has requested $11.6 billion in additional war-funding for the rest of the year. The proposal was immediately panned as too low.
House Armed Services Chairman Rep. Mac Thornberry (R – TX) complaining the amount was far too low, and wouldn’t allow the US to maintain its ongoing escalations in the number of ground troops deployed around the world, particularly given escalations against ISIS.
That’s unsurprising, as such bills rarely admit just how big the additional costs are going to eventually be, and additional supplements to supplements are pretty common, along with Congressional deals to shift money around. Thornberry, however, is calling for a “careful review” of the plan.
It’s unclear how much more money Thornberry seeks to add to this particular funding bill, though in practice it probably will just slightly change the size and scope of future military funding bills that are coming at any rate, with no real debate about reducing spending to anywhere near the budget caps.
That is in line with Trump’s boast that he will give us the hugest armed forces ever, especially by growing our “smallest ever” (his words) air force. Where the borrowing for the growth must come from is not clear to me. China may say no or whatever that word is in Chinese.
Has Thornberry checked with the President-elect on this issue?