Political and Legislative
A House Panel Defies Biden and Backs a $24 Billion Boost to the Pentagon’s Budget
The House Armed Services Committee on Wednesday voted to endorse a nearly $24 billion increase to the Pentagon budget, delivering another bipartisan rebuke to President Joe Biden’s military spending plan.
The committee voted to boost the budget topline of the annual National Defense Authorization Act in a 42-17 vote during its marathon markup of the military policy legislation. The Senate Armed Services Committee endorsed a similar increase this summer.
The proposal, offered by the committee’s top Republican, Rep. Mike Rogers of Alabama, would pour an extra $23.9 billion into buying more weapons, and boost research and development, construction, and maintenance accounts. If approved, the new topline spending level would be $740 billion.
