House Democrats rebuke calls to raise spending in defense bill – By Bryant Harris, Megan Eckstein, Stephen Losey and Joe Gould (Military Times) / June 14, 2022
WASHINGTON — House Democrats sided with the Biden administration Tuesday, offering a $762 billion fiscal 2023 defense spending bill in an initial draft released by the Appropriations Committee.
The initial legislation provides a $32 billion increase over the FY22 defense budget, but rejects calls from Republicans and some centrist Democrats to raise the FY23 budget by 3% to 5% above historic inflation rates.
Beyond the more than $40 billion in supplemental funding Congress has appropriated this year for Ukraine and its neighbors, House Democratic appropriators would meet the White House’s budget request for $300 million for the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative. The fund pays for training, equipment, lethal assistance, logistics support, salaries and intelligence support for Ukrainian forces.
“As Democrats continue to invest in diplomacy, development, and health, we also scrutinized this year’s budget for inefficiencies and for cuts that could be made to save taxpayer money,” Defense Appropriations Chairwoman Betty McCollum, D-Minn., said in a statement upon releasing the bill. “As Vladimir Putin continues his brutal, illegal war in Ukraine, this legislation continues to support the Ukrainian people in their fight to defend their democracy.”
