Senators Look to Bypass Defense Spending Caps in Debt Ceiling Bill

The U.S. Capitol Building in Washington on May 22, 2023 (Madalina Vasiliu/The Epoch Times)

The debt ceiling bill came under fire from both Democrat and Republican parties for a variety of reasons. One reason cited by some in the GOP was the top line in defense spending.

The bill—negotiated between House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) and President Joe Biden last weekend and passed overwhelmingly in the House on May 31 and the Senate on June 1—includes a commitment to spend almost $886.35 billion on defense in fiscal year 2024 and just over $895.21 billion the following fiscal year.

The criticisms came as the United States continues to deal with numerous geopolitical threats.

China is threatening to invade Taiwan, having conducted a great number of fighter jet exercises near the island nation. And Beijing has taken over man-made islands in the Indo-Pacific, where it has a major naval presence.

Iran’s nuclear program shows no signs of slowing down while the world’s leading state sponsor of terrorism is reportedly planning to increase its attacks on U.S. military personnel in Syria.

Russia has sought to take over Ukraine since February 2022, but has failed to do so and now faces a Ukrainian counteroffensive.

North Korea, with its own nuclear program, poses a threat to U.S. allies in the Indo-Pacific, including Japan and South Korea.

Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) on June 1 filed an amendment to the debt ceiling package “to prevent even further cuts to critical defense spending” with “the Fiscal Responsibility Act of 2023 as the baseline for sequester instead of the 2022 omnibus spending bill,” according to a press release from his office. It failed, 48–51, and therefore there will be a 1 percent cut across the board if Congress does not pass all 12 appropriations bills on time.

The cut would kick in on Jan. 1. Were the appropriations bills not to be enacted by the end of the fiscal year, Sept. 30, a continuing resolution, or CR, would need to be passed to fund the government between Oct. 1 and Jan. 1, McCarthy told The Epoch Times on May 31.

On the Senate floor on June 1, hours before the upper congressional chamber passed the debt ceiling bill, Cotton and Sens. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), Dan Sullivan (R-Alaska) and Susan Collins (R-Maine) called for a supplemental defense spending measure.

Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) speaks at the National Review Institute's Ideas Summit on March 30, 2023. (Courtesy of NRI)

‘Mortal Risk’ to Cut Defense Budget’

Cotton, who voted against the bill, warned that it “poses a mortal risk to our national security by cutting our defense budget” and that “domestic spending will go up and defense spending will go down if the sequester kicks in.”

Graham remarked that the bill would make America ill-prepared to deal with threats from abroad.

“You cannot say with a straight face that this military budget is a counter to Chinese aggression, that it adequately allows us to defeat Putin,” he said.

“You cannot say with a straight face that this budget represents the threats America faces. A military budget should be based on threats, not political deals to avoid default.”

Graham noted that, according to Adm. Michael Gilday, the chief of naval operations, amid today’s global threats, the United States needs 373 manned ships and 150 unmanned platforms, thereby requiring an increase of 5 percent above inflation. Unless that occurs, said Graham, there would be, in fiscal year 2025, 10 fewer ships than the 296 manned ships currently in use.

“The topline is inadequate, the CR is devastating, and what bothers me the most is that we would put the Department of Defense in this position. We are playing with the men and women’s lives in [the] military, their ability to defend themselves, as some chess game in Washington,” said Graham.

“Well, this is checkers at best,” he continued. “The fact that you would punish the military because we can’t do our jobs as politicians is a pretty sad moment for me.”

Sullivan weighed defense spending against the gross domestic product (GDP).

“The number one priority of the U.S. Congress should be, in my view, what percentage of our national wealth we’re dedicating to defense,” he said.

“This budget will take us in the next two years—with the cut this year, inflation-adjusted cut of 4 to 5 percent, and a nominal increase next year of 1 percent, which would be about a 5 to 6 percent cut—it will take us below the 3 percent of GDP number for defense for the first time since 1999, during the peace dividend era of the [Bill] Clinton administration,” Sullivan said. “We will be below 3 percent of GDP.”

Sullivan, who voted against the bill, cited what percentage of GDP the United States has spent on conflicts: 15 percent with the Korean War; 8 percent with the Vietnam War; 4.5 percent with the Iraq and Afghanistan Wars and the War on Terror. The Cold War and Reagan-era military buildup consumed around 6 percent of GDP.

Collins, who voted for the measure, called for a commitment from Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) to bring forth an “emergency” supplemental defense spending bill and to pass all 12 appropriations bills on time.

When—exactly—a supplemental defense spending bill will pass the Senate, let alone become law, is to be determined.

Sen. Jack Reed (D-R.I.), chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, said “next week we’re gonna sit down and figure out” such a bill. Reed has called for a supplemental defense spending measure.

Other senators called for an additional bill to fund U.S. national defense and send assistance to Ukraine.

“There’s going to be a supplemental at some point in time for Ukraine, Taiwan, southern border,” said Sen. Jon Tester (D-Mont.). “When that time comes, we'll take a look at it and assess it then.”

Sen. Ben Cardin (D-Md.) told The Epoch Times he is for such a supplemental bill.

“I’m very concerned about the funding levels for defense. We live in one of the most dangerous times looking at geopolitics today,” Sen. Steve Daines (R-Mont.) told The Epoch Times.

“[It’s] very important that we fund defense so that we have the strongest and most fearsome fighting force in the world,” he said. “We need to increase it.”

The senators would not say what the top line for a supplemental defense spending bill should be.

Schumer would not commit to such a supplemental bill. He told The Epoch Times, following the Senate passing the debt ceiling bill, that such a measure is “a possibility” and “certainly on the table.”

When asked about a possible supplemental defense spending bill, Sen. Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.) told The Epoch Times, “Let’s get this one in the bar before we start talking about supplementals.”

Now that the Senate passed the debt ceiling bill, the White House said that Biden will sign it as soon as tomorrow in order to avoid default. Whether Biden would sign an additional defense spending bill is publicly not known.

White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said the defense figure in the debt ceiling bill was “in accordance with” Biden’s budget and that the White House “won’t talk about the appropriations process before it happens.”

At the end of the day, it is not just how much is spent on defense but for what the taxpayer dollars are spent, Paul Crespo, CEO of the Center for American Defense Studies think tank, told The Epoch Times.

He also said that there needs to be a 7 percent increase in defense spending, accounting for inflation.

“If we are forced to follow it due to this budget deal, our warfighting and readiness will clearly suffer, even as the risk of war is rising,” he said.

“But, a bigger question is what are our defense dollars getting us?” said Crespo, a former Marine officer with the Defense Intelligence Agency.

“We are nearing a trillion dollars in annual defense spending, yet China is out-building us in key military and naval categories. It is getting a much bigger bang for its defense buck than we are.”