Overnight Defense: Trump proposes $603B defense budget | Defense hawks say proposal falls short | Pentagon to probe Yemen raid

THE TOPLINE: The Trump administration on Monday revealed its proposed military spending budget for fiscal 2018, and the plan is getting jeers from both Republican defense hawks and Democrats.

The administration is proposing $603 billion for the base defense budget.

That’s $54 billion more than spending caps would allow and about $18 billion more than the Obama administration had projected for 2018. But it’s $37 billion less than the $640 billion figure defense hawks had proposed.

The Trump administration proposal would also slash $54 billion from nondefense spending to pay for the defense increase, with the Environmental Protection Agency and State Department facing steep cuts.

The administration provided few details about how the $603 billion would be spent, other than saying that “predominately it will go to the Pentagon.”

{mosads}The budget would blow up the Budget Control Act by increasing defense spending above the law’s caps and forgoing the parity in defense and nondefense spending that the law requires. As such, its fate in Congress is unclear.

President Trump is giving his first address to Congress on Tuesday night, where he said he’ll talk more about the budget.

The Hill’s Jordan Fabian has more from Monday morning’s Office of Management and Budget (OMB) call here, while The Hill’s Sylvan Lane has more from OMB Director Mick Mulvaney on Trump’s budget promises here. Check back at TheHill.com later for our full story on the budget proposal and the fight ahead in Congress.

GOP CHAIRMEN REACT: The Republican leaders of the Armed Services committees were unimpressed with the proposal, saying it was not high enough.

Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) and Rep. Mac Thornberry (R-Texas) had proposed a $640 billion base defense budget for fiscal 2018.

McCain’s reaction to Trump’s proposal: “With a world on fire, America cannot secure peace through strength with just 3 percent more than President Obama’s budget. We can and must do better.”

Read more from McCain here.

And Thornberry’s reaction: “Over the course of the Obama Administration, our military funding was cut 20 percent while the world grew more dangerous. While we cannot repair all of the damage done by those cuts in a single year, we can and should do more than this level of funding will allow.”

Read more from Thornberry here.

DEMOCRATS REACT: Democrats weren’t pleased with the proposal for a different reason: to pay for the $54 billion increase to defense spending, the administration would cut an equal amount from nondefense spending.

The top Democrats on the Armed Services committees didn’t put out statements Monday. But Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) said that such cuts would almost certainly hit the middle class.

“This budget proposal is a reflection of exactly who this President is and what today’s Republican Party believes in: helping the wealthy and special interests while putting further burdens on the middle class and those struggling to get there,” Schumer said in a statement.

Read more on Schumer’s remarks, from The Hill’s Naomi Jagoda, here.

PENTAGON REVIEWING YEMEN RAID: The White House on Monday confirmed that the Pentagon will do three reviews into the controversial raid in Yemen that killed one Navy SEAL and a number of civilians.

The reviews will look into the death of the SEAL, the civilians and the destruction of a $75 million military aircraft.

It’s standard procedure for the Pentagon to conduct a review whenever a service member dies, civilians die or military hardware is destroyed. 

White House press secretary Sean Spicer confirmed the probes when responding to criticism from the fallen SEAL’s father.

The Hill’s Ben Kamisar has more from Spicer here.

ON TAP FOR TOMORROW:

The Senate Foreign Relations Committee will hold a hearing on Iraq after the battle for Mosul at 10 a.m. at the Dirksen Senate Office Building, room 419. http://bit.ly/2l8nEsB

A House Foreign Affairs subcommittee will hold a hearing on China’s maritime push at 2 p.m. at the Rayburn House Office Building, room 2172. http://bit.ly/2lBNSY4

Another Foreign Affairs subcommittee will have a hearing on the western hemisphere at 2 p.m. at Rayburn 2200. http://bit.ly/2mfSN2z

A House Armed Services Committee subpanel will have a hearing on the inspector general’s recent report on Central Command intelligence at 3:30 p.m. at Rayburn 2118. http://bit.ly/2kUKlpc

ICYMI: 

— The Hill: Retired generals urge Congress not to cut funds for diplomacy

— The Hill: Bergdahl lawyers appeal decision not to toss case over Trump comments

— The Hill: Navy secretary nominee withdraws

— The Hill: NSA head Rogers pushes to loosen reins on cyberweapons

— The Hill: George W. Bush: ISIS ‘can be degraded and defeated‘

— Reuters: Pentagon delivers draft plan to defeat Islamic State to White House

— Associated Press: New anti-ISIS strategy may mean deeper US involvement in Syria

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