Yesterday, the House passed the FY 2016 defense appropriations bill.
House Republicans decided to exempt the Pentagon from sequestration cuts by putting some extra funding in the Overseas Contingency Operations slush fund. Given that overall spending caps remain in place, an increase in the Pentagon budget means that other departments' budgets will suffer.
Beyond that, there is also the simple fact that no Democrat should be voting for a bill that continues to bloat the Pentagon when we have a high poverty rate, underfunded schools, crumbling infrastructure, etc. It is a clear issue of priorities.
The House Democratic leadership encouraged members to vote against it, although they didn't whip against it:
H.R. 2685 appropriates $490.2 billion in FY 2016 base discretionary budget authority for the Department of Defense – plus an additional $88.4 billion in discretionary budget authority designated for Overseas Contingency Operations (OCO).
The measure includes a military pay raise of 2.3% (1% above the President’s request) and continues provisions prohibiting the transfer of Guantanamo detainees to the U.S. It also includes funding for sexual assault prevention and response programs in the military and suicide prevention and outreach programs.
The $88.4 billion in funding designated for OCO is achieved by shifting $38 billion in funding from the President’s base defense request into the OCO war funding account - a dangerous gimmick intended to go around the sequester level defense spending cap from the Budget Control Act, while leaving the non-defense sequester level cap in place. This gambit will destabilize long-term national security planning, and allow domestic priorities to wither on the vine. By removing pressure to replace the sequester level defense caps, it makes a new budget agreement less likely, with drastic negative consequences for our nation’s schools, roads and bridges, law enforcement, scientific research, and other domestic priorities critical to military families and all hardworking Americans. If Republicans want to lift spending above the Budget Control Act's caps, then they should work with Democrats to replace the dangerous and irrational sequester for both defense and non-defense spending with a balanced solution.
For these reasons, the Administration issued a SAP stating that, should it reach his desk, the President’s advisors would recommend he veto this bill. Members are urged to VOTE NO.
It passed
278 to 149.
235 Republicans and 43 Democrats voted for it. 144 Democrats and 5 Republicans voted against it.
The vote was largely similar to the vote on the NDAA a month ago, which was 269 to 151.
I will only highlight the differences.
Last month, only 41 Democrats voted for it. So what accounts for this increase in two?
Eight Democrats who voted against the NDAA voted for the defense appropriations bill:
Sanford Bishop (GA-02)
Gene Green (TX-29)
Jim Himes (CT-04)
Jerry McNerney (CA-09)
Rick Nolan (MN-08)
Tim Ryan (OH-14)
David Scott (GA-13)
Filemon Vela (TX-34)
But then six Democrats who voted for the NDAA voted against the defense appropriations bill:
Matt Cartwright (PA-17)
Lacy Clay (MO-01)
Susan Davis (CA-53)
Rick Larsen (WA-02)
David Loebsack (IA-02)
Beto O’Rourke (TX-16)
Last month, eight Republicans voted against the NDAA, but now only five voted against the defense bill.
Here are the three who switched:
Curt Clawson (FL-19)
Morgan Griffith (VA-09)
Tom Massie (KY-04)
I'll highlight one amendment I haven't mentioned already in a previous diary.
Gregorio Sablan, the US delegate from the Northern Mariana Islands, offered an amendment to transfer $21.3 million from the operations and maintenance budget for the Pentagon to environmental restoration of formerly used military sites.
It failed 173 to 256.
166 Democrats and 7 Republicans voted for it. 235 Republicans and 21 Democrats voted against it.
Here are those 21 Democrats:
Ami Bera (CA-07)
Sanford Bishop (GA-02)
Corrine Brown (FL-05)
Cheri Bustos (IL-17)
Jim Cooper (TN-05)
Susan Davis (CA-53)
Tulsi Gabbard (HI-02)
John Garamendi (CA-03)
Gwen Graham (FL-02)
Alcee Hastings (FL-20)
Steny Hoyer (MD-05)
Steve Israel (NY-03)
Derek Kilmer (WA-06)
Ron Kind (WI-03)
David Loebsack (IA-02)
Sean Maloney (NY-18)
Scott Peters (CA-52)
Kathleen Rice (NY-04)
Dutch Ruppersberger (MD-02)
Adam Smith (WA-09)
Pete Visclosky (IN-01)
Here are the 7 Republicans:
Justin Amash (MI-03)
Rob Bishop (UT-01)
Louie Gohmert (TX-01)
Walter Jones (NC-03)
Thomas Rooney (FL-17)
Rob Woodall (GA-07)
Tom Massie (KY-04)