A leading congressional voice on military readiness is slamming President Obama’s veto of the National Defense Authorization Act as an act of “disrespect” to our military,believes the move could hurt our armed forces and suggests the president doesn’t really understand the legislative process when it comes to national security.
Obama recent vetoed the $612 National Defense Authorization Act, or NDAA, over his frustrations on budgeting and not enough attention on his priorities.
“Let’s have a budget that properly funds our national security as well as economic security. Let’s make sure we’re able, in a constructive way, to reform our military spending to make it sustainable over the long term,” said Obama, when he vetoed the bill.
He also made a pitch for some of his priorities.
“Let’s make sure, in a responsible way, we can draw down the populations in Guantanamo, make sure that the American people are safe and make sure we’re not providing the kind of recruitment tools to terrorists that are so dangerous,” added Obama.
Rep. Rob Wittman, R-Virginia, is chairman of the House Armed Services Subcommittee on Readiness. He says despite the president’s rhetoric, the members of the U.S. military are the ones truly hampered by this veto.
“It’s a direct, I think, disrespect shown to our men and women in uniform to say, ‘I don’t support the efforts that need to be put forward for our nation’s military,” said Wittman, who says Obama’s actions are based on simple politics.
“I think it’s absolutely abhorrent that the president decides to play politics with the armed services, especially the raises that are in there for our brave men and women in uniform, the dollars that go to restore readiness, which we know has been degrading on a significant scale, and making sure we have the proper training, proper equipping of our forces, to make sure we’re modernizing our forces,” said Wittman.
An attempt to override the Obama veto is set for next week, but Wittman says the longer this plays out, the worse it is for military readiness, particularly in terms of training personnel, repairing equipment and and updating our capabilities.
“Continuing resolutions are bad enough in not putting money out to start things new, but a vetoed NDAA grinds all these things to a halt, so you don’t do anything to advance the cause of training, equipping and modernization, all critical elements of readiness,” said Wittman.
While Wittman is frustrated by Obama’s actions, he is also baffled by them. He says Congress was more than fair to Obama and the president doesn’t seem to grasp what the NDAA does.
“This authorization bill funds exactly to the president’s budget. What he asked cannot be achieved in the authorization act. You cannot change how dollars are appropriated in an authorization act, so the president’s got it wrong. It’s unfortunate that he’s decided to play politics with this,” said Wittman.
“There is nothing that authorizers,the House Armed Services Committee and Senate Armed Services Committee, can do to direct dollars coming from different sources,” said Wittman.
The congressman says the president’s beef seems to be with a separate piece of legislation.
“He cannot achieve what he wants to achieve with additional domestic spending through an authorization bill. If he wants to have that debate, have the debate with the appropriations bill,” said Wittman.
As for Guantanamo, Wittman says Obama is now balking at policy he’s embraced for several years.
“The same Gitmo language is in this bill as was in the 2011, 2012, 2013 and 2014 National Defense Authorization Acts. He signed every one of those. If it wasn’t an issue in the previous four years, why is it an issue this year/” asked Wittman.
The NDAA passed by a veto-proof majority in the Senate but narrowly missed that margin in the House. Wittman believes there’s a chance to override the veto, because some of Obama’s usual allies are not pleased with this veto.
“This has always been a bipartisan effort. I’ve talked with people on the other side of the aisle that have heartburn with what the president’s doing, with politicizing the efforts to do what’s right for our nation’s military,” said Wittman.
“What I hope, as a counter to this, is that the House overrides the veto, sends a strong message to the president to say, ‘Don’t play politics with our men and women in the military. Don’t play politics with our national security,” he added.
