Three top Senate Republicans say President Donald Trump’s budget proposal falls short of his promises to boost U.S. military spending.
Under the president’s discretionary request, the Defense Department’s budget would rise by $119 billion to top $1 trillion. But that extra spending is a one-year only supplement to jumpstart Trump’s priorities, including a next-generation missile defense shield, new U.S. shipbuilding capacity and military-led border security missions.
Sens. Susan Collins, R-Maine; Mitch McConnell, R-Kentucky; and Roger Wicker, R-Mississippi − who respectively chair the powerful appropriations and defense committees – say the one-time increase won’t have the lasting effect of a permanent addition to the defense budget.
They argue that, in effect, Trump’s spending increase amounts to a bonus, not a raise.
The Department of Defense base budget would remain at $892.6 billion under the president’s proposal, which, without growth to account for inflation, represents a cut in real-terms, Wicker said in a statement.
Collins, the head of the Senate Appropriations Committee, said in a statement she has “serious objections to the proposed freeze in our defense funding given the security challenges we face.”
“Ultimately, it is Congress that holds the power of the purse,” Collins wrote.
“It’s a supplement,” McConnell, the head of the Appropriations subcommittee for Defense, said in a statement posted to the social media site X. “America cannot expect our allies to heed calls for greater annual defense spending if we are unwilling to lead by example.”
The request amounts to “a fifth year straight of Biden administration funding, leaving military spending flat,” said Wicker, head of the Armed Services Committee.
The senators cited the need for increased military spending to deter rising threats around the globe from China to Iran.
Two Trump administration officials told reporters May 2 that they believe reconciliation is the most “durable” way to provide additional money to the Pentagon – although it represents one-time payment, not a recurring funding stream.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: McConnell: Defense spending falls short in Trump budget
