Business

Liberal groups slam Dem spending plan

by Niv Elis - 04/04/19 2:37 PM ET

Four liberal groups on Thursday slammed House Democrats for a spending proposal that would have increased military spending.

“House Democrats appear to be accepting at face value the absurd notion that the Pentagon needs more money, when it can’t even account for what it already spends, can’t even spend the obscene amount of money Congress already appropriates, and can’t rein in waste, fraud, and abuse,” the groups CREDO Action, Indivisible, MoveOn, and Win Without War wrote in a joint statement.

Democrats on the House Budget Committee narrowly advanced a plan Wednesday that would have raised spending caps on defense by $17 billion and nondefense by $34 billion relative to current caps, a plan that would keep the defense cap some $33 billion higher than nondefense. Nondefense spending covers categories such as health, education, transportation, environment and foreign operations.

The groups called on Democrats to “immediately drop this plan,” which Democrats are expected to bring to a full floor vote on Tuesday.

Committee Democrats lost three votes from progressives who objected to the increased levels of military spending, a level that Committee Chairman John Yarmuth (D-Ky.) said he had reached after consulting with different Democratic factions and Senate Democrats.

An amendment proposed by Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) to freeze defense spending only garnered seven of 22 Democratic votes.

On Thursday, Yarmuth reiterated his position that the final spending deal negotiated with Republicans would allow defense and nondefense cap levels to rise at an equal level from their legal 2020 caps, which like the Democratic caps legislation would leave defense spending $33 billion above nondefense.

Progressives are expected to offer amendments to the cap levels when the legislation reaches the House floor.

Tags John Yarmuth Ro Khanna