President Barack Obama vetoes H.R. 1735, the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2016,
in the Oval Office Thursday.
President Barack Obama Thursday vetoed a $612 billion defense policy bill over objections to the way it is funded and provisions that he says would complicate his vow to close the Guantánamo military prison in Cuba.
The bill—National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal 2016—would have boosted the budget by $38 billion that would have been transferred to a fund that is not covered by budget caps. The White House called this a “funding gimmick.” Jordan Fabian reports:
The president argues that it irresponsibly skirts spending caps put in place by the 2011 Budget Control Act. He has called on Congress to increase both defense and nondefense spending.
“The bill includes this slush fund tactic that’s an irresponsible way to fund our most basic national security priorities,” White House press secretary Josh Earnest told reporters last week.
And Gregory Korte
reports:
"This president is not going to accept a defense authorization bill that fails to fix the harmful spending cuts known as sequestration and short-changes our troops," White House Deputy Press Secretary Eric Schultz said Thursday. "The president believes that the men and women who serve in our armed forces deserve adequate and responsible funding, not through a gimmick or not through a slush fund, but one that could withstand scrutiny."