Republican Budgets in Both House and the Senate Add to Military Spending - NYTimes.com: Congressional defense hawks seized the upper hand in their fight with deficit hawks on Thursday, securing billions of dollars for the Pentagon in a victory that presages a broader revolt against tight spending limits.
After intervention by Republican leaders, the House Budget Committee voted out an otherwise austere spending plan, promising to add $2 billion in additional “emergency” war funding to a budget that already raised combat funds by $38 billion. That money, over the objections of deficit hawks, will be added Monday as the full House prepares to debate the tax-and-spending blueprint.
In the Senate, a revolt by defense advocates forced the Budget Committee to add $38 billion in military spending through a war account not subject to statutory spending restrictions. That came little more than 24 hours after the Senate committee unveiled a budget plan that capped war spending at President Obama’s $58 billion request and added parliamentary language intended to thwart any increases in the account.
