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MILITARY BUDGET: Why does Kevin McCarthy want to DEFUND THE PENTAGON?

MILITARY BUDGET: Why does Kevin McCarthy want to DEFUND THE PENTAGON?

Why does Kevin McCarthy want to DEFUND THE PENTAGON?

House Minority Leader and resident GOP squish, Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-CA), has been taken to task by the Pentagon for announcing the GOP’s plans to delay funding of our nation’s military. The Chair of the House Armed Services Committee, Adam Smith, criticized the partisan antics of the Republican congressional leader – warning that continued delays put national security at risk.

Speaking at POLITICO’s Defense Summit, Smith said:

“If you kick it off four, five, six months, you are really damaging the United States military. So I hope Kevin McCarthy understands that.”

“You are damaging the United States military every day past October 1st that you don’t get it done, and certainly more so every day past January [1st].”

Delaying the bill would break more than a six-decade-long streak of Congress enacting a defense policy measure at the end of each year, POLITICO reported.

Rep. McCarthy attempted to deflect the unprecedented move by placing the onus on Democratic members, accusing President Joe Biden and his allies in Congress of putting “wokeism” issues like climate change, ahead of national security.

Whatever “wokeism” means.

The Republican Party seems to believe that rooting out White supremacism in the military, addressing climate issues, and protecting the reproductive healthcare rights of women serving in the country’s armed forces are antithetical to being a “patriot.”

They are willing to hold back the funds that keep the government functioning to make a performative point, apparently something not out of the question for the GOP’s partisan scheming.

In July, the Democratic-controlled House overwhelmingly passed a version of the defense bill 329-101, and the positive vote tally included the vote of the chamber’s presumed soon-to-be speaker – Rep. Kevin McCarthy.

Now, however. McCarthy’s singing a different song.

In a bi-partisan vote, both Democrats and Republicans in the House of Representatives approved an increase to Biden’s budget request to the tune of $37 billion – with the Senate going a step further, agreeing to a $45 billion increase.

The “America First” party seems intent on making America last, and the head of the Armed Services Committee is putting Republicans on blast.

Because as most of the progressive wing of the Democratic party knows, the Pentagon is vastly overfunded, but McCarthy is refusing to move forward with the military appropriations for all the wrong reasons.

Original reporting by Connor O’Brien at POLITICO.

Follow Ty Ross on Twitter @cooltxchick

Ty Ross
News journalist for Occupy Democrats.

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