House GOP lawmakers holding Trump to U.N. remarks on $700B defense budget 

By Tony Bertuca / October 5, 2017 at 12:59 PM

More than 150 Republican lawmakers, led by House Armed Services Committee Chairman Mac Thornberry (R-TX), have sent a letter to President Trump praising his “explicit endorsement” of a $700 billion defense budget during remarks he made at the United Nations General Assembly Sept. 19, despite the fact his administration has requested nearly $100 billion less than that for fiscal year 2018.

“We fully support your commitment to increase funding for our military to reverse a mounting readiness crisis and to deter serious and complex threats around the world,” the Oct. 4 letter states. “We agree a funding level of $700 billion is essential to make our military 'as strong as it has ever been.' The House and Senate voted this summer with overwhelming bipartisan margins to authorize and appropriate this level of funding.”

Trump, in his maiden speech at the U.N., said: “And it has just been announced that we will be spending almost $700 billion on our military and defense. Our military will soon be the strongest it has ever been.”

Trump's speech, however, was not accompanied by a budget amendment or any announcement that his administration would now seek $700 billion for defense.

In reality, the Trump administration has requested $603 billion for defense, which exceeds the $549 billion cap mandated by the 2011 Budget Control Act. 

The House, however, has authorized an FY-18 defense base budget of of $631.5 billion and an Overseas Contingency Operations account of $64.6 billion. The Senate has authorized a similar amount, but a final appropriations deal has yet to be struck.

In the meantime, Congress has passed a continuing resolution to keep the federal government open until Dec. 8 and is now engaged in partisan debate over how to increase both defense and non-defense spending above the BCA.

Attempts to reach the White House Office of Budget and Management for immediate comment on the letter were unsuccessful.

“Every day under a continuing resolution is yet one more day in which our military's readiness recovery is delayed,” the letter states. “Only our adversaries benefit from this situation.”

Earlier in the day, Thornberry told reporters he was confident Trump wanted to increase defense spending, even if there were some on his staff who did not.

"I have no doubt the president is personally committed to fixing the military," Thornberry said. "If there are differences of opinion on his staff, they ought to get the message." 

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