THE TOPLINE: The Senate Budget Committee voted Thursday to boost the Pentagon’s war funding account in the GOP budget in fiscal 2016 to $96 billion, essentially matching the House GOP plan to raise the overall level of defense spending.
The move came after defense hawks in the Senate fought for higher defense spending than caps imposed by the 2011 Budget Control Act would allow.
{mosads}The Senate budget proposal, unveiled a day earlier, only had $58 billion for the war funding account, but Sens. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) and Kelly Ayotte (R-N.H.) introduced an amendment that would boost that level to $96 billion.
The amendment passed by a party-line vote. However, Congress will need to find an offset for the funds in future defense spending, after base defense spending caps are lifted in 2021.
The war funding account, known as the Overseas Contingency Operations (OCO) account, has been used to finance the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and now is paying for military operations against the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS).
The account falls outside of the base budget and Republicans are relying on it to make up for the defense cuts under sequestration.
The war fund would bring Republicans’ defense budget plan in line with the president’s request of $612 billion, even though it does not lift spending caps on the defense budget.
The president urged the lifting of the caps, and requested $561 billion for the Pentagon’s base budget and $51 billion for its OCO account, for a total amount of $612 billion.
The Senate budget plan would allow for slightly more than that, without lifting the defense budget caps.
The Senate budget panel approved its blueprint late Thursday in a 12-10 party-line vote.
PANEL PASSES HOUSE BUDGET: The House Budget Committee approved its $3.8 trillion fiscal blueprint, as Republican leaders were able to resolve a conflict between defense and fiscal hawks.
The committee passed the first budget from new Chairman Tom Price (R-Ga.) on a 22-13 party-line vote.
Republicans might not be done playing with their budget, which is likely to hit the House floor next week, as House Armed Services Committee members work to ensure that $20 billion in defense spending doesn’t require offsets elsewhere in the budget.
Rep. Mike Turner (R-Ohio), who led a group of 70 House Republicans seeking more robust defense spending in the budget, indicated that he could back the latest compromise, and that the GOP had finally solved the impasse.
“I’m whipping for this. I think this solves the issues that we need and we’ll provide enough funding for our national security,” he said.
“Completing work on the budget is always one of the toughest jobs we have all year,” Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) told reporters on Thursday.
“We agreed this morning that the rule will reflect a higher overseas contingency account number to reflect the wishes of a large number of our members.”
Armed Services Chairman Mac Thornberry (R-Texas) and Rep. Rob Wittman (R-Va.) said they believed that they could get on board with a plan to allow the budget to pass the committee as is, and then shore up the defense funding at the Rules panel.
“I think that we’re headed towards a path where we’re going to get where I can support the budget,” Thornberry told reporters.
HOUSE SENDS IRAN LETTER TO OBAMA: A bipartisan letter on Iran signed by 360 members of Congress will be sent to President Obama on Thursday, one of its House signers said.
The letter reminds the administration that permanent sanctions relief on Iran as part of a deal to rollback its nuclear program would require new legislation from Congress.
It comes as international negotiators approach a March 24 deadline to reach a framework agreement.
“Should an agreement with Iran be reached, permanent sanctions relief from congressionally-mandated sanctions would require new legislation,” the letter says.
The letter stops short of supporting legislation pursued by the Senate that would allow Congress 60 days to weigh in on any final deal before its implementation.
However, it adds, “We are prepared to evaluate any agreement to determine its long-term impact on the United States and our allies.”
Sen. Bob Corker (R-Tenn.), chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said earlier this week that he would move forward next week on the Senate bill, co-authored with Sen. Bob Menendez (D-N.J.), ranking member of the committee.
Rep. Eliot Engel (D-N.Y.), who announced the new letter, said he personally could wait until a deal was agreed to before backing congressional action on Iran, but warned the administration not to bypass Congress.
“There really cannot be any marginalization of Congress. Congress really needs to play a very active and vital role in this whole process, and any attempts to sidestep Congress will be resisted,” Engel said Thursday morning at a House Foreign Affairs Committee hearing.
“We would hope that we could get a prompt response from the White House. It’s truly a very bipartisan letter expressing Congress’s strong feelings about things that need to be in the agreement,” he said.
AFGHAN LEADER ‘DESPERATE’ FOR HELP. Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) said Afghanistan’s president is “desperate” for more security assistance and will welcome the Obama administration’s reported plan to slow the withdrawal of U.S. troops in that country.
He said he expects the administration to announce formally that the U.S. will alter the drawdown timetable next week when Afghan President Ashraf Ghani visits the White House.
“I know him very well. He’s desperate for more help,” said McCain, chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee.
His remarks come as there are reports that President Obama intends to keep more troops in the country through 2016 than originally planned.
“They’ve already said it, but we don’t know the details yet,” said McCain, referring to the recent reports.
Officials also suggested that a public announcement surrounding the decision would be made during Ghani’s March 24 visit to the White House.
McCain said the visit will “reinforce the decision that we understand has been made to extend our military presence in a forceful and effective way.”
Ghani “needs to back that up and reinforce it,” he added.
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT:
– Obama administration won’t commit to making Iran deal public
– Lawmakers launch post-9/11 veterans caucus
– Will US bases in Afghanistan stay open?
– Pentagon to begin training Ukrainian forces next month
– House Intel panel closing in on cyber bill
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