Rep. Mac Thornberry, chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, said Thursday that the deal President Trump made with Democrats doesn’t provide the necessary stability for the military amid increasing accidents and readiness issues.
“What matters, I think, are the consequences. What the country needs, what the military needs, what the world needs is some stability. So a three-month debt limit does not provide stability for the financial markets, and it certainly does not provide the funding stability that the military needs to solve these readiness issues,” Mr. Thornberry, Texas Republican, said on CNN.
Mr. Trump has come under fire for making a deal with Democrats on Wednesday during a meeting with congressional leadership from both parties. Mr. Trump agree to an extension for the debt limit and a continuing resolution to Dec. 15 to avoid a default. Republicans had reportedly wanted an 18-month, debt-ceiling increase to avoid issues before the 2018 midterms elections.
When Mr. Thornberry was asked if he was upset that the president made a deal with Democrats, the lawmaker said he’s only focused on the outcome.
“I don’t care who makes a deal with whom. What I care about are the results, what the consequences are, and unfortunately this does not help fix out military situation. We face an increasing number of accidents, we have our people increasingly under stress and strain, we have a world that’s growing more dangerous, such as North Korea, and so this will just have a stop-gap funding measure that just makes none of those problems better,” he said.
• Sally Persons can be reached at spersons@washingtontimes.com.
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