The House Appropriations Committee advanced its draft $690.2 billion fiscal 2020 defense spending bill Tuesday, CQ reported.
The Democrat-crafted bill includes a 2% increase over fiscal 2019 defense spending, allocating $622.1 billion to DOD’s base budget with another $68.1 billion going toward overseas contingency operations. It falls short of President Donald Trump’s fiscal 2020 defense budget request by $8 billion, or 1%.
Voting on the measure tallied 30-22 and fell along party lines.
The bill would also restrict DOD from reprogramming funding for southern border barrier construction and sharply reduce authority to move military construction money within appropriations accounts from $9.5 billion to $1.5 billion, as On Base has reported.
It would boost the Pentagon’s F-35 fighter fleet, appropriating 90 of the fifth-generation aircraft, 12 more than the Pentagon requested.
The Hill reported word of a deal on lifting fiscal 2020 spending caps could be possible as early as Tuesday night, according to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), which would raise defense spending above the House appropriators’ bill.
“Without a topline budget agreement, we aren’t making spending decisions based in reality,” said House Defense Appropriations subcommittee Ranking Member Ken Calvert (R-Calif.)
Army Reserve photo by Sgt. Stephanie Ramirez