Enough House Democrats on the Armed Services Committee joined with Republicans to increase the budget for the National Defense Authorization Act.
House Republicans wanted to increase the military’s budget from President Joe Biden’s request of $753 billion by more than $20 billion, and they were able to make that happen with more than a dozen of their Democratic colleagues who supported the amendment on Wednesday.
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The new amendment will raise the total spending allocated for the 2022 fiscal year to roughly $778 billion, which is in line with the spending approved by the Senate Armed Services Committee.
“The bipartisan adoption of my amendment sends a clear signal: The president’s budget submission was wholly inadequate to keep pace with a rising China and a reemerging Russia,” ranking member Rep. Mike Rogers, a Republican from Alabama, said in a statement to the Washington Examiner.
The spending increase ensures growth of 3% above inflation, and it provides more than $15 billion to “fill unfunded procurement, research and readiness priorities,” according to a summary of the amendment.
“I hope this bipartisan, and now bicameral, move is understood by the Biden-Harris administration,” Rogers added. “The defense of our nation will not be shortchanged by Congress. I thank my colleagues for adopting this amendment to support the men and women who serve in our armed forces.”
America’s military withdrawal from Afghanistan loomed over the NDAA amendments and markup. The GOP side filed more than 50 amendments related to the withdrawal prior to Wednesday’s hearing.
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Conversely, progressive Democrats urged committee Chairman Rep. Adam Smith not to exceed Biden’s request for the Department of Defense.
Other GOP-introduced amendments that have passed thus far include ones that will require the defense secretary to submit quarterly reports on the threat of terrorist attacks under a Taliban regime in Afghanistan and for the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the defense secretary to provide updates on the same time frame regarding U.S. military operations in Afghanistan.
