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The spending measure, which passed 309-118 and funds the federal government through September, is expected to clear the Senate easily this week before budget battles begin anew. Some House Republicans already are looking ahead to the fiscal year that begins in October as a chance to demand new defense spending and exact greater concessions from Democrats in the next round of spending talks.
“This marks the beginning of a new era,” said House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis. “No longer will the needs of our military be held hostage by the demands for more domestic spending.”
Republicans secured $15 billion from an off-budget war fund, which they described as the first step to breaking years of equal spending increases for defense and non-defense spending. The argument over that parity has been one of the fiercest fights in the past ten years of budget negotiations.
Democrats said the new spending measure continues the even treatment because they have never opposed using the war fund for military expenses. GOP members see the latest negotiation as an opening to demand greater money in the future.
The brewing defense fight marks an immediate shift from the recent bipartisan spending talks to a highly-charged debate over setting spending priorities for years to come. It also marks the first time that conservatives, who demanded across-the-board spending cuts under former President Barack Obama, have signaled that they might support defense funding increases to help fulfill major elements of President Donald Trump’s agenda.
Defense hawks in the House have already launched an effort to convince GOP leaders to attempt to repeal the defense spending caps that were set in the 2011 Budget Control Act, also known as the sequester.
More than 140 House Republicans signed a letter on Wednesday calling for GOP leaders to scale back those defense cuts as part of the upcoming long-term budget talks. The letter was led by Rep. Mike Turner, R-Ohio, and signed by the chairmen of the House Armed Services Committee, the conservative House Freedom Caucus and the Republican Study Committee.
“This is not just a spending issue, this is a security issue,” Turner said in a call with reporters. “Sequestration has required us to do fictional budgeting.”
Republicans have long insisted that capping defense spending could hamper military readiness but the latest push comes with the backing of conservatives who are often skeptical of spending increase of any kind.
“I’m OK with breaking the caps on the defense sequester,” said House Freedom Caucus Chairman Mark Meadows, R-N.C. “That’s where the negotiations start.”
The letter marks the first time in recent years that a majority of House GOP members have backed spending increases.