WASHINGTON — Democrats are turning up the heat on Republicans to agree on a fiscal package that would raise defense and domestic spending caps.
The Senate later Tuesday is expected to approve a massive GOP-crafted 2016 federal budget blueprint that includes an additional $38 billion for a Pentagon account used primarily to fund America’s armed conflicts.
Senate Armed Services Committee Ranking Member Jack Reed, D-R.I., told reporters Tuesday he thinks Republicans should begin talks with his party about a cap-raising deal akin to a fiscal bill from late 2012 crafted by then-House Budget Chairman Paul Ryan, R-Wis., and then-Senate Budget Chairwoman Patty Murray, D-Wash.
That bill provided two years of relief from spending caps for defense and domestic programs. A Ryan-Murray II bill would do the same.
Democrats and some Republicans oppose the compromise House-Senate budget plan’s $89 billion overseas contingency operations (OCO) account. Both oppose using the war fund to pay for things that otherwise would be financed through the yearly defense budget.
Conservative Republicans would prefer the funding to be offset by cuts elsewhere in the budget; Democrats want more domestic spending. And the latter is using the remaining procedural time before the Senate’s final vote on the budget plan to press the GOP to start thinking about a “Ryan-Murray II” deal.
“Instead of working with us to build on the bipartisan budget deal we struck last Congress, Republicans have introduced a budget that would lock in sequestration, hollow out defense and non-defense investments, and use gimmicks and games to paper over the problems,” Murray said Tuesday.
“We should be working together to put in place policies that boost the economy and help working families, she said in a nod to the domestic programs Democrats so covet.
House Budget Committee Ranking Member Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., part of a GOP-Democratic alliance trying to reduce the Republican-proposed 2016 OCO level of $89 billion, also is pushing for a deal to raise the defense and domestic caps.
“We need to get back to the table to have an honest debate about our budget and renegotiate the funding caps for both defense and nondefense,” Van Hollen, a 2016 Senate candidate, said in a recent statement.
“Only then will we be able to provide the necessary resources for our national security needs,” he said, “and to ensure we keep the nation’s commitments to education, research, infrastructure, and other crucial drivers of economic prosperity.”
On Tuesday, Harry Reid of Nevada, the Senate Democratic leader, called the GOP budget plan “unfair” and “unbalanced,” adding “some said it’s immoral.”
But Senate GOP Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky called his party’s pending plan “balanced,” saying it reflects the desires of many groups — including defense hawks.
“No budget will ever be perfect, but this is a budget that sensibly addresses the concerns of many different members,” McConnell said. “It reflects honest compromise from many different members with many different priorities.
“It includes additional resources and flexibility for national defense,” he said. “It reduces spending.”
Email: jbennett@defensenews.com
Twitter: @bennettjohnt
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