WASHINGTON (AP) – Defense Secretary Ash Carter says he’s deeply troubled by a Republican proposal to reduce wartime funding by $18 billion to pay for weapons and troops the Pentagon didn’t request.
Testifying Wednesday before a Senate subcommittee, Carter says the plan advocated by Rep. Mac Thornberry of Texas gambles with warfighting money at a time when U.S. troops are deployed in places like Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria.
Thornberry is chairman of the House Armed Services Committee. He and other Republicans have argued the plan fills gaping shortfalls in the Obama administration’s $583 billion defense budget that forces commanders to cut training hours, defer the maintenance of equipment and forestall the purchase of new weapons.
The House Armed Services Committee was meeting Wednesday to consider the defense policy bill for fiscal year 2017.