Smith 'leaning toward' supporting authorization bill, despite $18B budget 'gambit'

By Tony Bertuca / April 22, 2016 at 3:00 PM
The top Democrat on the House Armed Services Committee told Inside Defense on Friday he is “leaning toward” supporting the fiscal year 2017 defense authorization bill, despite the GOP's plan to transfer $18 billion from the Pentagon's warfighting account into its base budget to pay for additional weapon procurements and other unrequested plus-ups. Rep. Adam Smith (D-WA) acknowledged that cutting $18 billion from DOD's overseas contingency operations account was “a gambit” that has the potential to put the military...

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