The House Armed Services Committee chairman pushed back on Monday against Defense Secretary Ash Carter’s criticism of the fiscal 2017 defense policy bill, saying that it takes steps to fix the military’s readiness crisis.
Carter told reporters traveling with him to Stuttgart, Germany, that he “strongly objects” to the House version of the National Defense Authorization Act because it funds things that are not the Pentagon’s highest priorities and takes money from a war chest to fund base requirements.
“The proposal is to take money out of the wartime funding account in wartime, and that’s objectionable on the face of it,” he said.
But Rep. Mac Thornberry, R-Texas, said in a statement that his committee’s $610 billion bill is a step in the right direction to rebuild the military.
“What’s objectionable is deploying troops who aren’t fully trained, whose equipment is worn out, and who didn’t get the resources they needed back home to be ready to face our enemies overseas,” he said. “I am determined to turn our readiness crisis around, even if I have to do it over the secretary’s objections.”
Carter did not specifically say whether he would recommend a veto over his objections.
The defense policy bill relies on about $18 billion transferred from the war fund to cover base requirements, leaving only enough money to cover overseas contingency operations through April. The next administration would then need to submit a supplemental budget request to Congress to keep U.S. troops overseas in places like Iraq, Afghanistan and Europe.
