Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman John McCain (R-Arizona)Â has said he plans to propose an amendment to the fiscal year 2017 defense policy bill to authorize $17 billion in additional funds for the Defense Department, Defense News reported Monday.
Joe Gould writes McCain told attendees at a Thursday event hosted by the Brookings Institution that he would introduce the amendment despite the spending caps in the fiscal 2015 budget deal.
“I don’t know whether or not this amendment will succeed, but the Senate must have this debate and senators must choose a side,â€Â McCain said.
According to Defense News, McCain raised the debate on defense spending in a letter published Friday in which he called for additional funds to procure more F-18 and F-35 fighter jets, support shipbuilding efforts for Arleigh Burke-class destroyers and Virginia-class submarines as well as stop the planned force reductions to the Army and Marine Corps.
The full Senate is scheduled to take up this week the 2017 National Defense Authorization Act that would allocate $602 billion in funds for DoD, Gould reports.
