House Passes Defense Measure With Weapons Obama Hasn’t Sought

House Passes Defense Measure With Weapons Obama Hasn’t Sought.(Bloomberg).The U.S. House set the stage for a partisan fight over defense spending, passing legislation to give the Pentagon $607.1 billion in fiscal 2013 for weapons purchases, personnel and war operations in Afghanistan. The 326-90 vote yesterday in the Republican-run chamber sets up a fight with the White House and the Democratic- controlled Senate, both of which want less defense spending. The House defense appropriations bill would provide $24.5 billion less than current expenditures, reflecting the military drawdown in Iraq, and $2 billion more than President Barack Obama requested. Still, the House passed, 247-167, a bipartisan amendment trimming $1.1 billion from the version of the measure sent to the floor by the Republican-led House Appropriations Committee. The sponsors of the amendment, Representative Mick Mulvaney, a South Carolina Republican, and Barney Frank, a MassachusAfghetts Democrat, said they wanted to freeze Pentagon spending at the current year’s level. “When we are discussing cutting even the most basic social safety net programs, we think increasing the defense base budget makes all our exhortations about the deficit ring hollow,” Mulvaney and Frank said in a letter to colleagues before the vote. “You may want to keep this letter. The chances of receiving one from a more unlikely pair of your colleagues in your time in Congress are probably pretty low.” Their amendment won support from 158 Democrats and 89 Republicans.
White House officials have threatened a veto, saying in a June 28 statement of administration policy that House Republicans aren’t abiding by a deal on spending caps reached last year as part of a deal boosting the U.S. debt ceiling. Higher spending than Obama sought will force cuts to domestic programs to stay within the limits, the administration said. Among amendments adopted on the House floor was one from Texas Republican Ted Poe that would reduce military aid to Pakistan by $650 million, half the amount in the bill for the South Asian country. Poe said the Pakistani government hasn’t been aggressive enough in fighting terrorists. “By continuing to provide aid to Pakistan, we are funding the enemy, endangering Americans and undermining our efforts in the region,” he said in a statement. The bill’s remaining funding for Pakistan would be withheld until the secretaries of defense and state certified that the Pakistani government is cooperating with the U.S. in counterterrorism efforts, including against the Haqqani Network. Hmmmm...."Yes We Can?".Read the full story here.