written up in defense News yesterday

Senate Armed Services Chairman John McCain says he opposed legislation for disaster relief and federal debt ceiling extension because the continuing resolution attached to the bill would hurt the Department of Defense. Defense leaders assert that CRs inhibit long-term planning, driving up costs for equipment purchases and new initiatives



WASHINGTON — Senate Armed Services Chairman John McCain on Thursday voted against disaster relief legislation and an extension of the federal debt ceiling because he believes an attached budget extension will cause numerous problems for the Defense Department.

At issue is another portion of the spending measure that would extend the federal budget until mid-December, preventing a government shutdown at the end of September but locking the military into fiscal 2017 levels of spending for three additional months.

“I have come to this floor many times to talk about the harmful effects of continuing resolutions on our military,” McCain, R-Ariz., said in a pre-vote floor speech on Thursday. “Year after year we have lurched from one short-term fix to another, without doing the hard work of governing and budgeting.

“(Continuing resolutions) inflict great harm upon those Americans we are constitutionally obliged to provide for, and that’s our men and women in uniform.”

Defense leaders have long lamented Congress’ inability to pass full-year military budgets near the start of the new fiscal year, Oct. 1. In testimony before lawmakers, they say the practice inhibits long-term planning for new initiatives and equipment purchases, thereby driving up costs when those projects resume later.

But the latest budget extension, paired with disaster relief funding for the southern U.S. in the wake of Hurricane Harvey, easily passed the Senate Thursday afternoon despite those objections and similar ones from 16 other senators.

It now heads to the House, where lawmakers are expected to approve it on Friday. President Donald Trump has already said he will sign the measure into law.

Last month, when rumors of a three-month budget extension first surfaced, McCain and committee ranking member Jack Reed, D-R.I., requested information from the Defense Department on how a continuing resolution might hurt military operations, saying the tightened spending comes at a time of “diminished readiness, strained modernization, and increasing operations.”
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That report was due back to the committee by Friday.

McCain said he supports both the disaster relief funding and a debt ceiling increase, just not as part of this legislation

“There are brave young men and women serving in Afghanistan and Iraq and other places,” he said. “We must always ask ourselves, are we really doing all that we can to support them?

“There is no point in discussing our strategy for Afghanistan or North Korea or ISIS or any of the other myriad of threats we currently are facing if we’re simply going to fund the military through a continuing resolution.”

Shut up, you old fool. If it's money you're worried about, we can print enough to cover everything.

McCain is becoming as ridiculous and frustrating as Pelosi.

I really, really don't like John McCain. This might be one of those broken clock twice a day situations, but I actually agree with him here.

Tying multiple different semi related or even unrelated bills into one vote should be criminal, and that seems to be what he is against here. Tie whole bunch of "must pass" legislation with a stinker of a continuing resolution so they have to pass the whole thing seems to be the way they frequently slip awful laws past us. No thanks.

This whole not passing a budget thing is really a load of crap. Government is terribly inefficient anyway, and it's made even more so when leadership can't plan ahead because they have no idea when or if they are getting money. Seems like McCain wants to vote against this garbage continuing resolution, not necessarily all the other stuff like the relief funds they tied to it.

quote:

Tying multiple different semi related or even unrelated bills into one vote should be criminal

Preach it.

One vote, one issue, one law or otherwise. No riders, no pork, no surprises, no more nonsense, no need for a line item veto (a decent idea, but a bandaid at best).

That it happens is a significant problem, yet no one ever meaningfully addresses it beyond the occasional lip service.

Wash. Rinse. Repeat.

One of many reasons nothing much ever seems to change or improve. There are so many systemic problems it's truly amazing anything works as well as it does. The system and our government are and have been severely broken in a great many ways for ages.

McCain is becoming an embarrassment to humanity. He opposes everything just because he's going to die and hates Trump.

Waiting for a video of him syaing "NYAA NYA NYa NYa NYA".

RMD

McCain is a Tool! I am REALLY sick of him!! And he REALLY needs to go!!!

Back in May, Mick Mulvaney presented President Trump's $4.1 trillion budget. Among other things, the budget included a 10% Increase in Military Spending, and $1.6 Billion for a Border Wall....Maybe if Congress had performed their Constitutionally charged duty they could have voted on an FY'19 Budget instead of voting on a CR and Debt Ceiling Extension tied to Disaster Relief.

Of course, instead of doing what they were elected to do, they made a conscious decision to take most of the summer off. Thus far they've accumulated a rather impressive (and extensive) list of failures, which includes failing to 'Repeal & Replace ObamaCare', cut taxes, reform tax policy, etc, etc....., and the list seemingly continues to grow with no hope of any real accomplishment in sight!

FJM

I just wants the prick to die

sooner rather than later?

I'm rooting for his disease...

same here

I watched my youngest cousin die of brain cancer and its not pretty, but in some respects its what McCain absolutely deserves

he's been a cancer on this country for decades

That old fool,where was his outcry when his president ran it to 20 trillion.

quote:

Originally posted by Sig2340:
FJM

This!!!!