House Armed Services Committee Chairman Mac Thornberry (R-Texas) said he thinks Congress will pass a continuing resolution (CR) to fund the government through December and could add additional money for missile defense and readiness.
Thornberry expects the three-month long CR to fund the government past the end of the fiscal year on Sept. 30 but is “disheartened by this state of affairs” and thinks it is a mistake to be in this constrained timing.
“I regret very much we are in a position where it seems a CR is the best option,” Thornberry said at the Defense News Conference in Arlington, Va., on Wednesday.
He lamented that “what we’ve seen too often in recent years is defense spending being held hostage by other priorities.”
The chairman said that to limit the negative outcomes of a CR, a plan B is to get additional money for missile defense, interceptors, and readiness.
Congress came back from it’s summer recess with a packed schedule this month that must address funding the government past Sept. 30, raise the debt ceiling, and provide emergency and longer-term funding for Hurricane Harvey damage.
On Wednesday, President Donald Trump agreed to a plan by Democratic leaders for Congress this week to pass a three-month CR, extending the debt ceiling through December, and hurricane relief.
In a press conference following the leadership meeting, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnel (R-Ky.) said he will add the extensions to the flood relief bill already passed by the House. After that passes this week, McConnell said the Senate will move to focus on their version of the FY 2018 National Defense Authorization Act.
Thornberry said in light of North Korea’s aggressive ballistic missile and nuclear weapons test schedule, the U.S. needs more ships, planes, missile defense, and intelligence near the country. This is “because it may come to the point we need to defend ourselves and our allies.”
Thornberry added he was surprised that the Trump administration’s FY 2018 budget request reduced spending on missile defense systems. In contrast, the chairman expects the eventual FY 2018 budget to increase missile defense spending.
He is in favor of scrapping the Budget Control Act (BCA) budget caps but thinks in the short-term Congress can get around it on defense matters by adding to the Overseas Contingency Operations (OCO) account. Thornberry acknowledged that this is not the best way to fund defense projects but also sounded an optimistic note that he thinks Congress could repeal BCA cuts this fall.
Thornberry did not specify how much additional missile defense funding would get through the CR. Continuing resolutions typically are divided into general provisions that apply to all appropriations covered by the CR and anomalies that apply to a single account and deviate from general provisions.
Separately, Thornberry noted in 2017 the military had four times as many servicemembers die in accidents than in combat, which reflects stresses on forces in high demand. He was referring, in part, to two deadly collisions between Navy Arleigh Burke-class destroyers and merchant vessels in the Pacific theater.
This is a bad trend and partially reflective of how Congress and the executive branch have been dysfunctional in Defense Department funding, he said.
Thornberry brought up a June Government Accountability Office report, “Actions Needed to Enhance Capabilities in the pacific Region.” The recent accidents were not inevitable “but we had warning lights that we were asking too much of our service members and equipment,” he said. “The truth is all of our services are facing similar problems.”
Rep. Kay Granger (R-Texas), chairwoman of the House Appropriations subcommittee on Defense, at the conference confirmed that congressional leadership is planning on a CR to last through early December.
Thornberry and Granger noted the House passed an FY 2018 National Defense Authorization Act and a defense appropriations bill in July, while the Senate hasn’t acted on either bill.
Both chairpersons said the House leadership plans to vote and pass eight more appropriations bills this week, working through Saturday if necessary.
Granger admitted that Congress has to prove it can work faster because it has not had a “stellar” pace in recent years.