Congress passing $350 billion in reconciliation funds to support the Donald Trump administration’s potential $1.5 trillion fiscal 2027 defense topline is “going to have its challenges,” a senior member of the House Armed Services Committee (HASC) said.
“I want to make sure that we get through that. I want to make sure that members know the importance of getting that done and make sure we have the commitment to be able to finish that. I’m not going to underestimate how challenging it’s going to be, but I think it is attainable,” Rep. Rob Wittman (R-Va.), the HASC vice chair, told Exchange Monitor affiliate Defense Daily following remarks at the Navy League’s Sea-Air-Space conference in National Harbor, Md.
“I think when people know what we have to do, what we have to fund, what’s in the budget request, I think, to me, that in and of itself, is a pretty compelling argument for it. You can argue about which process is the best, but it’s hard to argue with what the need is for this nation and what we have to be able to build in order to deter the Chinese,” Wittman added.
During a panel discussion with HASC members at the conference on Wednesday, Reps. Donald Norcross (D-N.J.) and Ronny Jackson (R-Texas) also offered support for the planned spending boost while questioning the use of reconciliation funds to achieve the increase.
“The budget numbers that are being floated around…are going the right way. And we’ll leave it at that. But I will say, reconciliation is not the way to do it,” Norcross said “On an extraordinary occasion, we used it during the pandemic. We used it last year [for defense spending]. But using reconciliation as a method to get to the [topline] number is not the way to do it,” Norcross said, adding the move may lead to Congress “seceding…the power of the purse.”
“We have oversight. We need to have that ability. And the way to do it is not through reconciliation. Let’s move that number over to the regular budget process so the money that we, as folks that write the checks, so to speak, are making sure the money is going there,” Norcross said.
Exchange Monitor affiliate Defense Daily first published a version of this story.