More than two dozen House Democrats demanded Congress reduce military spending following the U.S. withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan.
In a letter to House Armed Services Committee Chairman Adam Smith on Monday, 27 Democrats asked that fiscal 2022 not exceed President Joe Biden’s request of $715 billion for the Department of Defense.
The group, headed by Reps. Mark Pocan of Wisconsin and Barbara Lee of California, pointed to the imminent U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan and the increased domestic social welfare needs, arguing lawmakers should cut military spending “now more than ever” and dedicate funding to fighting poverty and climate change instead.
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Lawmakers set the letter to Smith on the same day the Washington Democrat released his own budget mark for fiscal 2022 defense spending.
Smith calls for $716 billion in base defense spending, aligning his top-line number closely with the Biden administration’s 2022 request.
However, the House bill proposes a lower number than the Senate’s defense spending, authored by both Republicans and Democrats and passed in the Senate Armed Services Committee in July.
Senate Democrats control the majority but need at least 10 Republicans to pass most legislation, including the spending authorization measures.
The Senate Armed Services Committee issued an authorization measure that provides more than $740 billion to the Defense Department, which is $25 billion more than either Biden or House lawmakers are seeking.
House and Senate lawmakers will ultimately have to work out a compromise that can pass both chambers.
But House Democrats could provide a significant hurdle if they oppose the final compromise.
The letter Pocan and Lee sent to Smith on Monday is signed by 25 additional Democrats, more than enough to sink a bill they believe spends too much if no Republicans support it.
They warned the Senate bipartisan Defense authorization spending is far too high.
“This number is above and beyond the more than one percent increase in funding requested by President Biden and approved by the House Appropriations Committee,” Lee and Pocan wrote to Smith. “Surpassing the President’s request by such a large and unwarranted amount should not be the starting position of the House Armed Services Committee, particularly when current defense spending levels should already be reduced.”
House Republicans asked Smith to match the Senate spending level when the panel votes to advance the measure in a virtual markup this week.
House Armed Service Committee ranking member Mike Rogers of Alabama filed an amendment to Smith’s measure on Monday seeking a $25 billion increase. Rogers cited the National Defense Strategy Commission, a bipartisan group that recommended increasing defense spending to at least 3% above the inflation rate.
Rogers called Biden’s $715 billion proposal that the House has largely matched “wholly inadequate” and said it would leave American troops vulnerable and the United States prone to threats from China, Russia, and other adversaries.
“It is because of the real threats that we face that our military and national security efforts must be fully funded,” Rogers said.
But Democrats control the majority on the House floor and in committees, which means it will be difficult, if not impossible, for Rogers to win a spending increase, especially with the majority-liberal caucus warning against it.
Lee and Pocan are co-chairs of the Defense Spending Reduction Caucus and members of the powerful House Appropriations Committee.
Lee, a longtime anti-war advocate, was the sole lawmaker to vote against authorizing the war in Afghanistan in 2001.
Lee said Monday the current crisis in Afghanistan that has evolved in the wake of U.S. withdrawal underscores the need to stop funding wars overseas.
Thirteen U.S. service members were killed in a suicide bomb blast last week amid a chaotic evacuation scene. The U.S. completed its evacuations and military pullout on Tuesday.
“Despite trillions of dollars poured into our endless military spending, this budget has failed to meet the greatest threats that our nation and our world faces today, including the COVID-19 pandemic, the climate crisis, and the needs of 140 million people living in poverty,” Lee said. “Now is the time to shift our investments away from endless wars and toward addressing human needs.”
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The House and Senate versions have many identical provisions, including a 2.7% pay increase for the troops and the elimination of a special overseas budget to fund war operations.
The House bill references the thousands of Afghans seeking special visas to live in the U.S. as the Taliban takes over the country.
The House bill includes a provision “expressing the sense of Congress about the importance of the program and honoring our commitments to those Afghan partners, who at great personal risk, supported the U.S. mission in Afghanistan.”
