Faced with another divisive caucus fight, progressive House Democrats appeared Wednesday ready to accept a proposed $733 billion Pentagon budget and policy bill that the House Armed Services Committee agreed to last month.
After days of uncertainty that several liberal members could sink the upcoming vote on the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), Democratic representatives are now expressing confidence their version will pass. That bill would have to be reconciled with the rival $750 billion Senate version, which has already passed with strong bipartisan support.
Rep. Gil Cisneros, California Democrat and a member of the Congressional Progressive Congress, told The Washington Times Wednesday, “I think overall everybody understands that this is the best deal that we could get, that $733 [billion] is the right number.”
He said that he has personally spoken to several members of the caucus “and they understand how important this is.”
After the progressive group huddled Tuesday evening to map its strategy on the massive, annual defense bill, several members now say the existing bill will see enough support to make it through the House. House Democratic leaders were anxious to avoid the divisions on display on a recent $4.6 billion border security bill, where Speaker Nancy Pelosi was forced to accept the Senate bill without changes.
The House bill was already facing opposition from Republicans who have pushed for more spending on defense, after former Defense Secretary James Mattis and several top Pentagon officials testified that the military requires a 3% to 5% budget increase every year to maintain readiness and modernize U.S. forces.
House Budget Committee Chairman John Yarmuth, Kentucky Democrat, told reporters Wednesday “I think everybody understands how critical it is that since we’re not going to get any Republican votes, most likely that how critical it is from just in terms of ongoing ability of our caucus to function that we pass the defense bill.”
Several Democrats have cited the Pentagon’s original budget proposal that came out last year that requested $733 billion.
“This is the number they came up with,” Mr. Cisneros said. “They tried to come back with a higher number later without any justification for that higher number. So we’re giving them what they want and what they asked for.”
• Gabriella Munoz contributed to this report.
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