The Senate on Tuesday blocked an attempt to put limits on the Pentagon’s war fund as part of an annual defense bill.
Senators rejected 46-51 an amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) from Sen. Jack Reed (D-R.I.) that would have fenced off $38 billion in war funds until Congress reached a deal to lift the budget caps imposed by sequestration.
Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), who spearheaded the annual defense bill, suggested that while he doesn’t like using the Overseas Contingency Operation (OCO) fund as a way to skirt Defense Department budget caps, it’s better than nothing.
{mosads}”OCO was not the right or best way to do business,” he said. “The worst way to do business is to have an authorization that will eliminate our ability to defend this nation and the men and women who serve it. It would be a disaster if this $38 billion is removed.”
But Democrats rallied around Reed’s change ahead of the vote.
Asked whether he backed Reed’s amendment, Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) said, “Oh, very much so.”
Manchin also voted for it in the Senate Armed Services Committee, where it failed to garner enough support to be included in the policy bill.
Sens. Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii) and Ed Markey (D-Mass.) also voiced their support for Reed’s amendment ahead of the vote.
The White House has threatened a veto of the Defense authorization bill, which outlines broad policy and spending requirements for the Pentagon. The administration argues that if Congress wants to increase defense spending, it must also increase nondefense spending.
Democrats have suggested that the current fight over the war fund is a precursor for a larger fight over the defense appropriations bill, which the Senate is expected to take up after it finishes work on the NDAA.
While Senate Democratic leadership has pledged to block that bill, it’s unclear if they’ll also try to hold up the NDAA.
“I don’t know what will happen,” Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) told reporters when asked whether Democrats would filibuster the bill if Reed’s amendment failed. “I think I know what our plan is on appropriations; it’s not as clear on defense authorization.”