WASHINGTON – House Republicans are considering adding tens of billions of dollars to President Barack Obama’s request for overseas military operations in an effort to get around tight limits on Pentagon spending. The move comes as Republicans are set to unveil their latest budget plan.
Obama requested $51 billion for Pentagon operations in Afghanistan, Iraq and elsewhere, but GOP aides said Monday party leaders are weighing figures above $90 billion – enough to surpass Obama’s proposal to spend $38 billion above the limits for the budget year beginning in October.
GOP defense hawks have promised not to support any budget that doesn’t at least match Obama’s $561 billion request for defense, but a 2011 budget “sequestration” law imposes a $523 billion limit on the defense budget – an automatic cut of $54 billion below previously agreed levels.
War spending, however, is outside the limits and offers an easy way around the automatic cuts imposed after the failure of lawmakers to replace sequestration with alternative deficit-cutting moves.
The exact figure has yet to be determined and was still the subject of debate among top House Republicans on Monday.
But the move is likely to rile many conservatives who want to stick with the tight limits on spending.
House Budget Committee Chairman Tom Price, R-Ga., plans to reveal his 2016 budget blueprint Tuesday.
Price promises to balance the nation’s budget within a decade and rein in major programs such as food stamps and Medicare. He also promises to avoid tax increases.
Senate Armed Service Committee Chairman John McCain, R-Ariz., said Monday he’d like to swap a 10-year deficit-cutting plan to reverse two years’ worth of Pentagon cuts, which total more than $100 billion over 2016-17.
