By: Leo Shane III
Defense advocates have been hopeful that President Donald Trump’s election will mean big boosts in military spending in years to come, but on Monday prominent analysts said those thoughts may just be dreams.
“This is not Christmas in July,” said Mackenzie Eaglen, a security fellow at the American Enterprise Institute. “All the fights (on the defense budget) are the same as before, it’s just the actors that are different.”
The comments came as part of a Center for Strategic and International Studies event looking at expected defense funding changes in the next administration, and whether Trump’s campaign promises appear realistic.
For now, they’re skeptical.
In the first hours of Trump’s presidency, on the new White House website officials posted promises to “end the defense sequester and submit a new budget to Congress outlining a plan to rebuild our military.” This echoes Trump’s past comments about boosting defense spending without increasing the national debt.
But even though Republicans control the White House and Congress, they’ll still need Democrats to agree in order to make those changes in the federal spending caps, noted Richard Kogan, senior fellow at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.
Legislation to lift caps on defense spending will require 60 votes in the Senate, where Republicans only hold 52 seats. Democratic leaders have thus far refused to increase money for military programs unless the increases are included for other non-defense programs, something that conservatives on Capitol Hill have opposed.
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