Daniel Wiser reports for the Washington Free Beacon about the internal debate among congressional Republicans over maintaining defense spending within the limits set by sequestration cuts.
Republicans admit that while the spending caps have helped to reduce deficits in recent years and ensure fiscal responsibility, defense spending has also declined during a period of global instability. Members of the Republican Study Committee (RSC), a group of House conservatives who will issue their own budget proposal as an amendment next week, said on Tuesday that they are seeking to strike a difficult balance.
“Everybody recognizes that the caps have been a good thing from a fiscal perspective, but I think virtually all of the [GOP] conference realizes that they’ve also been harmful to defense,” said Rep. Bill Flores (R., Texas), RSC chairman.
“Now the tension is, how do you fix it?” he added.
The RSC’s budget will likely also maintain the spending caps while finding other ways to bolster defense funds, Flores said.
Rep. Marlin Stutzman (R., Ind.), another member of the RSC, said that he continues to hear concerns from constituents about Russia’s destabilization of Ukraine and the Islamic State terrorist group in the Middle East. More robust defense spending would give long-term certainty to the Pentagon, but the sequester also has its benefits, he said.
“That’s the needle that we’re trying to thread, and it’s tight,” he said. “We’ve put ourselves in this very difficult position. The only thing that’s cut government spending has been the sequester—whether we like that or not.”