Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., said Thursday that President Trump’s budget request will not pass the Senate and urged lawmakers to work together to find a bipartisan way to rebuild the military.
Trump’s “skinny” budget blueprint for fiscal 2018 boosts national security spending by $54 billion and offsets that with $54 billion in cuts to nondefense, a proposal that has no chance in the Senate where Democratic support is needed to reach the 60-vote threshold.
“It is clear that this budget proposed today cannot pass the Senate. Moving forward, it is imperative that we work together to reach a bipartisan agreement that provides sufficient funds to rebuild the military,” McCain said in a statement. “Failure to do so will only lead to more political dysfunction that has inflicted such harm on our men and women in uniform over the past six years.”
McCain also urged lawmakers to fully fund the military in fiscal 2017 by passing a defense appropriations bill and the president’s supplemental funding request as soon as possible.
But experts say the supplemental is likely to face hurdles in the Senate for the same reason. It goes above the budget caps for fiscal 2017 by about $10 billion and, as a result, will require Congress to work out a new budget deal — something Democrats are unlikely to support because it includes funding for the wall and $18 billion in cuts to domestic spending.
