House Dems Pass $733 Billion Budget That Takes Direct Aim at Trump Policies
House Democrats passed a $733 billion defense policy bill on Friday taking aim at President Donald Trump’s military policies.
The National Defense Authorization Act passed along partisan lines 220 to 197, and every House Republican and only eight Democrats voted against it.
The bill appears to take aim at many of the military policies supported by President Trump by reversing the transgender troop ban, blocking any military strike against Iran without Congressional approval and providing the military with a smaller budget.
The National Defense Authorization Act would also slow down any efforts to use military funding to build a border wall between the United States and Mexico, Politico reported.
House Armed Services Chairman Adam Smith said, “Accountability at the Pentagon matters. With Democrats working on this bill, this bill is better for national security because we don’t believe in sending a blank check to the Pentagon.”
He added, “It’s not everything [Democrats] want but we need to pass it to say, ‘This is our position,’ to move the ball in the direction we want,” according to WFTV.
However, House Republicans slammed the bill saying that cutting the military’s budget would end up hurting their preparedness.
House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy from California called the National Defense Authorization Act a “test for this new majority.”
“It was a test of whether they could put their radicalism aside and work across the aisle to do what was right for the country,” he said.
“The Democrats, or should I say, many call themselves Socialist Democrats, failed that test,” McCarthy added.
Smith, however, slammed the accusation calling it a “bald-faced lie.”
“You can oppose it. That’s fine,” the Washington Democrat said.
“But to say that we don’t care about national security, that we are a bunch of socialists who don’t want to work with Republicans is a bald-faced lie.”
The Senate’s version of the bill is quite different and gives President Trump the full amount of the requested $750 billion.
Politico noted that the House and Senate bills have some similarities, including allowing the military to purchase more ships and F-35 fighters as well as upgrading to the existing F-15EX fighters.
Additionally, the bills require the military to adopt a Tenants’ Bill of Rights due to the issues over military housing.
Moreover, both bills would put the new military space force endorsed by President Trump under the Air Force.
President Donald Trump is expected to veto the bill if it reaches his desk in its present form.
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