The White House blasted lawmakers crafting the annual defense policy bill Tuesday, accusing Congress of “micromanaging” the Pentagon, a charge that is often hurled at President Obama.
White House press secretary Josh Earnest said among the legislation’s “disappointing” features is the lack of budget reforms requested by civilian and military leaders at the Pentagon.
“Time and time again, we see members of Congress refuse to go along with them,” Mr. Earnest said. “I don’t know if you could do more to micromanage the Pentagon than to refuse to include the budgetary reforms that our civilian and military leadership believe are critically important to the military being able to do their job.”
Former Obama Defense secretaries Bob Gates and Leon Panetta have complained about micromanaging of Defense policy by the White House, and sources have said current Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel is resigning for similar reasons.
Mr. Earnest also said the administration will likely object to provisions in the bill that would limit Mr. Obama’s ability to close the terrorist detention center at Guantanamo Bay, although he didn’t indicate whether it was a deal-breaker. He acknowledged that Mr. Obama has signed previous defense authorization bills that included this restriction.
“We’re going to evaluate the whole package,” Mr. Earnest said.
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The president’s spokesman said the White House is pleased with other elements of the bill, especially a provision authorizing the Pentagon to equip and train Syrian opposition rebels.
“That is something that we’ve been working closely with Congress to be sure is included in this specific proposal,” he said.
And the administration signaled it is pleased with provisions that it said would ensure progress in efforts to fight sexual assault in the military.
• Dave Boyer can be reached at dboyer@washingtontimes.com.
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