Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) blasted President Trump’s budget on Tuesday, calling the overall proposal “dead on arrival.”
“President Trump’s $603 billion defense budget request is inadequate to the challenges we face, illegal under current law, and part of an overall budget proposal that is dead on arrival in Congress,” McCain, a frequent critic of the president, said in a statement.
The Trump administration on Tuesday unveiled a budget that would shift $54 billion from nondefense to defense spending for fiscal year 2018. That’s roughly $19 billion more than former President Barack Obama’s last plan.
McCain added that Trump’s budget proposal “fails to provide the necessary resources to restore military readiness, rebuild military capacity, and renew our military advantage with investments in modern capabilities.”
{mosads}Trump’s budget is expected to be met with stiff resistance from military hawks. McCain suggested $640 billion in spending in his own defense budget proposal earlier this year. That would be roughly $54 billion above what Obama projected for 2018.
Democrats have also knocked the Trump budget, arguing its cuts would impact the president’s voters the hardest and saying it breaks with his promises.
Congress is expected to draft its own budget, and lawmakers routinely set aside the president’s proposal. Republicans forced votes on Obama’s budgets, including a 98-1 vote in 2015 against the proposal.
Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) told reporters on Monday that presidents’ budgets are often “dead on arrival” and he expects Trump’s will have a “similar fate.”