Democrats break ranks to back $24 billion boost to Pentagon budget

More than a dozen Democrats on the House Armed Services Committee joined with Republicans to easily approve a measure boosting the Pentagon’s budget by $24 billion as part of a debate for a sweeping defense bill that authorizes spending levels and outlines priorities for the US military.

The amendment from Rep. Mike Rogers of Alabama, the panel’s top Republican, was added to the House’s National Defense Authorization Act during the committee’s debate Wednesday in a 42-17 vote with 14 Democrats voting in favor. The provision would increase the military budget by 3%, which Rogers said would keep the growth of the budget in line with inflation, authorizing additional funding for a number of items not in the Biden administration’s Pentagon budget, including additional submarines, planes and combat vehicles.

“The bipartisan adoption of my amendment sends a clear signal: the President’s budget submission was wholly inadequate to keep pace with a rising China and a reemerging Russia,” Rogers said in a statement after its passage.

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