A group of 69 House lawmakers, virtually all Republicans, urged President Trump on Thursday to abandon his plan to slash defense spending by 5 percent next year.
The cut ordered by Trump in October could degrade the military’s ability to fight and win wars at a crucial moment of rebuilding the forces, the group, led by Rep. Mike Turner, R-Ohio, an Armed Services subcommittee chairman, wrote in a letter to the president.
“We, the undersigned, strongly urge you to uphold your commitment of $733 billion to restore our nation’s military as you complete the fiscal year 2020 President’s Budget. Cuts to defense spending will have disastrous consequences for our military readiness, as was proven by sequestration,” they wrote, referring to automatic cuts imposed by the Budget Control Act of 2011.
The plea reflects a growing rift from Trump’s Pentagon plans within his own party in Congress over his order for the Pentagon to reduce overall defense spending from $733 billion to $700 billion. It’s part of an overall White House effort to reduce federal spending across the board.
One lawmaker who signed the letter is a Democrats, and a handful of others will not be returning to the House when the Democrats take over the majority in January.
Sen. Jim Inhofe, R-Okla., the Senate Armed Services chairman, also gave a speech at Fort McNair on Thursday opposing any cuts and pressing for regular increases for defense in the coming years. He met with Trump on Tuesday to try to persuade the president against the plan.
The House lawmakers argued to the president that the previous Democratic administration caused degradation of the military and defense budget increases over the past two years should be continued to rebuild the forces.
“This erosion of American military strength is a direct result of the Obama Administration’s sequestration. Since sequestration went into effect, dwindling resources have negatively affected our servicemembers and military readiness,” they wrote. “Our military has shouldered the burden of this harmful and failed political budgetary tactic, and it has had severe consequences for our national security.”
Sequestration was triggered in 2013 under the BCA, which enacted by Congress and former President Barack Obama. But Hill Republicans and Democrats have been able to strike deals on spending caps every year since to avoid the deep, arbitrary cuts.
Those cap deals, along with numerous stopgap budgets in recent years, held down defense spending, made planning difficult, and frustrated the Pentagon.
