Dems to Trump: Congress has ‘exclusive power’ to expand military

House Armed Services Committee Democrats dinged President Trump’s executive order Friday that Trump claims will begin a “great rebuilding” of the military, saying that expanding the armed forces is Congress’s job.

“Fun fact: Under Article 1, Section 8 of the Constitution, Congress has the exclusive power to rebuild the military,” the Armed Services Democrats’ Twitter account tweeted, linking to a page with the text of the section of the Constitution that gives Congress the power to “provide for the common defense.”

Fun fact: Under Article 1, Section 8 of the Constitution, Congress has the exclusive power to rebuild the military https://t.co/ASLd6QYquq

— House Armed Services (@HASCDemocrats) January 27, 2017

Trump visited the Pentagon on Friday to sign an executive order that he said will “begin a great rebuilding of the armed services of the United States, developing a plan for new planes, new ships, new resources and new tools for our men and women in uniform.”

The order, released Friday night by the White House, calls for rebuilding to military to pursue “peace through strength,” a slogan Trump used in the campaign.

Under the order, Defense Secretary James Mattis will have to prepare a 30-day “readiness review” that assesses training, equipment maintenance, munitions, modernization and infrastructure, and identifies actions to be taken this year.

Mattis will also have to 60 days to submit a plan to improve readiness by fiscal 2019.

The order also calls for the Pentagon and the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) to craft a budget amendment to boost military spending this year. Mattis and OMB will also need to create a fiscal 2018 budget that has levels “necessary to improve readiness conditions and address risks to national security,” the order says.

Adding more troops and equipment to the military — a long-time goal for defense hawks and a Trump campaign promise — would require Congress to lift caps on defense spending.

Lifting the caps could prove difficult if fiscal conservatives opposed to new spending and Democrats who want parity between defense and nondefense spending unite to oppose the plans.

Updated at 7:38 p.m.