Jindal calls for increased defense spending

Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal (R) is calling on Congress to increase spending on defense in forthcoming budget proposals, highlighting a rift between defense and fiscal hawks within the Republican Party.

Speaking on Monday at the conservative nonprofit American Action Forum, Jindal argued that this year’s GOP budget should lift caps on Defense Department spending created by the 2011 budget deal struck to prevent the U.S. from defaulting on its debt.

{mosads}“I’m calling on all leaders in House and Senate and anybody thinking of running for president to insist and make it clear that we have to invest in defense,” said Jindal, who is considering a bid for the White House. “We have to invest in the Pentagon … at a time when threats are increasing.”

This week, House Budget Committee Chairmen Tom Price (R-Ga.) and Sen. Mike Enzi (R-Wyo.) will unveil separate resolutions for the upcoming fiscal year that are expected to keep Defense Department sequestration caps in place. 

“I think Republicans made a mistake when they accepted caps on defense spending,” Jindal said. “These should be offset by other cuts in non-defense areas of the budget.” 

Defense hawks in Congress — such as Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), who is also considering running for president, and Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) — are warning that lower spending levels put national security at risk.

But not all Republicans believe that an increase in military spending is the solution to addressing the nation’s issues abroad.

The budget fight could set up a showdown with small-government conservatives such as Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.), another likely presidential candidate, who has long said that military spending has become bloated and that the nation needs to limit its involvement abroad.

Jindal on Monday argued that there is plenty of money elsewhere in the budget that could be reassigned to the military.

“It’s absolutely critical that we invest in our military and stop hollowing it out,” Jindal said. “I recognize I’m saying this at a time of record debt … we can’t afford $18 trillion in debt … we can’t afford ObamaCare or the president’s proposal for free community college, but we can’t afford not to invest in our military. “

Foreign policy has been an early focus of the 2016 campaign cycle, as GOP contenders warn about the growing threat from the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS), the negotiations between the Obama administration and Iran over the country’s nuclear program, and securing the border against those seeking to enter the country illegally.

Republicans have consistently blasted the Obama administration, claiming the president has weakened the military, disengaged from allies, failed to adequately pursue terrorist threats abroad and left the border vulnerable. 

This is Jindal’s second trip to Washington this year, and he’s also been traveling to early-voting states including Iowa and South Carolina in an attempt to raise his profile ahead of a potential White House bid. 

But Jindal remains buried in the polls. According to a Quinnipiac University survey released earlier this month, he’s tied for eighth place in the GOP field, taking only 2 percent support.  

Still, he’s had success keeping his name in the conversation as a conservative firebrand.

The Louisiana governor was the first Washington outsider to sign Sen. Tom Cotton’s (R-Ark.) controversial open letter to Iran; he has bashed Republican congressional leadership as “Democratic-lite,” unapologetically stood by his claim that there are Muslim “no-go zones” in Europe, and emerged as a fierce critic of Common Core education standards.