President Trump told the audience gathered at the conservative Heritage Foundation on Tuesday that the U.S. has passed increases in its defense budget in pursuit of what Ronald Reagan termed peace through strength.
“As a demonstration of America’s will, we have passed historic increases in defense spending, you saw that just last week,” Trump said, apparently referring to a non-binding House budget resolution passed in early October that anticipates $622 billion for defense in 2018.
The president has at various times referred to budget proposals in Congress as the set level of spending for 2018, but in actuality, the defense budget remains deeply uncertain as federal caps are set to hold base spending at $549 billion, far below what he or Hill lawmakers are proposing.
Trump’s defense budget request to Congress, which was released in May, calls for $603 billion in base funding, and the House and Senate have passed annual defense policy bills calling for $632 billion and $640 billion in base spending, respectively.
But to reach any of those spending levels, both chambers must strike an overarching budget deal to lift the caps on defense spending and almost certainly on non-defense spending, as Democrats are demanding.
That is a heavy political lift on the Hill and, for now, it appears uncertain whether any deal to meet Trump’s more modest defense increase can be struck before the current stopgap budget runs out in December.
Still, the president has remained upbeat and chose to highligt some of the proposals pushed by defense hawks like Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., and Rep. Mac Thornberry, R-Texas.
“Our budget this year — as you know, well over $700 billion — is getting us back to the position we have to be,” Trump told a gathering of U.S. military leaders on Oct. 5. “Almost never have we needed a great, powerful, strong, and brilliant military — and that’s where we are and that’s where we’re going, and going very rapidly.”
That comment was apparently in reference to the $640 billion National Defense Authorization Act bill, which includes $60 billion in overseas war money, that was spearheaded by McCain and passed by the Senate in September.
