
The top Democrat on the House Armed Services Committee threw cold water on the panel’s plan to boost defense spending by tens of billions of dollars, saying the increase will not materialize if Congress does not resolve a broader budget debate.While the committee’s fiscal year 2018 defense authorization bill contains $631.5 billion in base budget funding, $28.5 billion above the Trump administration’s request, Rep. Adam Smith (D-Wash.) said June 28 that base funding will be slashed to $549 billion if…