Sen. John McCain went after President Trump’s pick to lead of the Office of Management and Budget as “an impediment” to serving troops and rebuilding military readiness.
McCain questioned Rep. Mick Mulvaney, R-S.C., at a hearing of the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs about a range of votes the congressman had taken to cut spending on defense. Mulvaney said that he did not remember specifics of a handful of the votes.
“I would remember if I voted to cut our defenses the way you did, congressman. Maybe you don’t take it with the seriousness that it deserves,” McCain said.
McCain, who serves as the chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, went on to ask whether Mulvaney placed more of a priority on the military or the debt, to which Mulvaney replied that the “number one priority of the U.S. federal government is to defend the nation.”
“It’s nice to hear you think it’s important because you’ve spent your entire congressional career pitting debt against the military and every time for you the military has been less important,” McCain said.
Responding to questions from Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., Mulvaney said he was “absolutely in lock step” with Trump’s plan to boost military spending, but that the defense increase should be offset by cuts to non-defense discretionary spending. That proposal is unlikely to get any support from Democrats, who will support an increase to defense spending beyond Budget Control Act levels only if they get a comparable increase, not a cut, to domestic spending.
Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., also painted Mulvaney’s concern over the national debt as a concern for national security and “the future of your country, saying that a large debt could prevent the country from being strong or from buying platforms in the future.
“Great nations throughout history have traditionally failed from within … because of their inability to manage finances,” Mulvaney responded.
McCain also questioned Mulvaney about a vote he took to immediately withdraw all U.S. troops from Afghanistan.
“What were you thinking, honestly?” McCain asked.
Mulvaney told a story about a “giant mountain of a man” who had served in Vietnam and come to his office to talk about issues at the Department of Veterans Affairs. When he left, the man pulled Mulvaney aside and began crying, saying that his son had deployed four times in five years and that it was “killing his family.”
“So the answer is withdraw all troops from Afghanistan? That is crazy,” McCain shot back.
