Thornberry voting against three-month CR

House Armed Services Committee Chairman Mac Thornberry (R-TX) said today he is voting against a three-month continuing resolution that would keep the government funded at previous-year levels, raise the debt limit and provide hurricane relief funding.

Thornberry said on the House floor he was voting no because the measure, which passed the Senate Thursday, is harmful to the military. The House passed the bill 316-90. It will now be sent to the president to be signed into law.

"This bill, like other CRs, allows no new starts -- the Pentagon must spend the same money on the same things as last year," he said. "But the world is not standing still. In fact, the threats from North Korea and others grow every day. Yet, this CR prevents us from responding."

The White House and the Pentagon have not submitted to Congress any requested program exemptions, or CR "anomalies" that would allow new spending at the beginning of fiscal year 2018. Repeated requests to the Pentagon seeking additional information have gone unanswered.

Earlier in the week, Thornberry said there were discussions underway to allow additional defense spending under the CR. At present, nothing has been worked out.

"I support providing immediate emergency assistance for those affected by recent natural disasters and was glad to vote for such a bill earlier this week," Thornberry said. "I believe that raising the debt limit for only three months is a mistake because it does not provide the certainty that financial markets and our economy need. But most concerning to me, and the reason I am voting against this bill, is that it forces our military to operate under a stopgap continuing resolution -- once again."