Republicans are fuming after an internal Pentagon memo that outlines the department’s strategies to oppose annual defense policy and spending bills was released Monday.
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The leaked memo dated May 13, which was published exclusively by Politico, provides an internal view of the Defense Department’s political campaign against what it calls a “gimmick” funding proposal put forward by Thornberry and passed in the House version of the National Defense Authorization Act earlier this year.
Top officials wrote the agency needs to support their Congressional allies while continuing to pressure them against supporting the proposal, saying they “need to be prepared to play hardball”, according to the document sent to Secretary of Defense Ash Carter and Deputy Secretary of Defense Robert O. Work.
The memo, drafted by Pentagon comptroller Mike McCord and Assistant Secretary of Defense for Legislative Affairs Stephen Hedger, strategically lays out the Pentagon’s course of action – from engaging certain lawmakers, to particular fact sheets and speeches Pentagon leaders should give opposing the bills.
Thornberry reacted to the report in a statement, calling it “unfortunate and rather sad that some in the Obama administration spend so much time and effort playing political games, as evidenced by this memo”.
President Barack Obama has also threated to veto the bill, partly over the $18 billion in added spending.
Turner, who was first elected in 2002, pledged that Republicans would forge ahead on a defense spending bill “and ensure our military servicemen and women are provided the resources and equipment they need to keep this country safe”.
The “gimmick” is the House-approved plan diversion of $18 billion in wartime funds toward base budget programs to skirt budget caps, cutting off wartime funding on April 30, 2017 – a gambit to force the next president to make a supplemental request to Congress.
Pressing Democratic leaders to back up a White House veto threat; includes Sec. It was taken from a war funds account to get around budget caps.
It became public as House and Senate members were scheduling their first face-to-face budget negotiations after a long summer recess, raising tensions and sparking a reaction from Rep. Mac Thornberry, R-Texas, who is a lead architect of the proposed hike and a subject of the memo.
It advises “capitalizing” on the “discomfort” of House Defense Appropriations Subcommittee Chairman Rodney Frelinghuysen (R-N.J.) at Ryan’s plan to “help prevent the gimmick from surviving”.
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Thornberry is described in the memo as “still smarting” from when a defense bill was vetoed a year ago. “In a department charged with the security of our nation, the American people and our troops deserve better”. “Members of Congress in both sides of the aisle are working to meet our responsibilities to our troops and to the nation”.
