Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., on Wednesday defended his amendment to the defense policy bill, which would add $18 billion to its overseas account.
McCain cited the “misguided reductions in defense spending” that left the military underfunded and undersized. “There is no logic to continue to cut.”
He introduced his amendment to the fiscal 2017 National Defense Authorization Act to fully fund overseas contingency operations. He said not voting for his amendment would be “unfair and wrong.”
Sen. Barbara Mikulski, D-Md., cautioned the Senate to keep “parity” between domestic and defense spending as was done in the bipartisan budget act in October. Mikulski supports the $18 billion increase in defense only if $18 billion is added to non-defense spending.
“I argue not all of national security is in the Department of Defense,” Mikulski said. “There are clear and present dangers to the United States that are met by other agencies.”
The Mikulski amendment would, in part, be used to fund agencies such as the State Department to conduct diplomacy and give humanitarian aid to “win the hearts and minds of people.”
McCain responded, “There is no place to put an additional $18 billion in domestic spending into a defense bill.
“Voting no [to McCain’s amendment] is a vote in favor of continuing to ask our men and women in uniform to perform more and more tasks with inadequate readiness, inadequate equipment, inadequate numbers of people and unacceptable levels of risk to their missions and themselves.
“Let us stop allowing politics to divide us when we should be united in support of our military service members,” McCain said. He said he hopes a vote on his amendment will be held Wednesday evening or Thursday.
