Bishop, Bucshon, Thornberry react to leaked Pentagon memo detailing “hardball” strategy on national defense funding

U.S. Reps. Mike Bishop (R-MI), Larry Bucshon (R-IN) and Mac Thornberry (R-TX) recently reacted to a leaked Pentagon memo revealing a “hardball” strategy in dealing with Republicans on national defense funding.

The leaked Pentagon memo from May describes Obama administration plans to fight House Speaker Paul Ryan’s (R-WI) plan to increase defense spending in a way that circumvents budget caps.

National defense bills have been a bipartisan effort for decades, Bishop said, but the Obama administration has made a mockery of the process.

“Our military members and families give so much for our country every day, and they deserve serious solutions and respect in return,” Bishop said. “The Fiscal Year 2017 National Defense Authorization Act the House put forward ensures our men and women in uniform get the full raise they are entitled to under the law – and prevents the president from reducing their pay again in the future. I am outraged Obama officials continue to be more concerned with closed-door games than doing what is best for the people they represent – a problem that has spread to nearly every level of their administration.”

Bucshon said that the memo makes clear that the administration is more interested in planning partisan political fights than funding military operations critical to the nation’s security.

“The details of this memo are troubling, below the dignity of our troops, and should not be tolerated by the American people,” Bucshon added.

Thornberry, chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, called the leaked memo “unfortunate” and said that American troops and people deserve better.

“Members of Congress in both sides of the aisle are working to meet our responsibilities to our troops and to the nation,” Thornberry said. “I hope that in the next administration we will have a partner who will do the same.”

Ryan said that it is always “politics first” for the Obama administration.

“This memo details with relish a plan to use a presidential veto of a defense bill as a ‘weapon,’” Ryan said. “It’s shameless, and it threatens more than five decades of bipartisan cooperation to enact a national defense bill for our troops. The men and women who defend our country deserve better.”