House Armed Services Committee chairman Mac Thornberry, R-Texas, on Friday released his defense policy plan, which supports the president’s proposed military parade and a pay raise for service members, Stars and Stripes reports.
Thornberry proposes a military base budget of $639.1 billion and a $69 billion Overseas Contingency Fund. Several House panel released similar plans last week, which comprise the first spending proposals for the National Defense Authorization Act, which the HASC will consider next week.
"America’s military is facing challenges on multiple fronts, including the troubling increase in serious training accidents in all the military services," according to Thornberry’s proposal, which also "implements new reforms designed to speed decision making and improve military agility, while simultaneously resorting readiness and increasing capability and capacity in a force that has been asked to do too much with too little for too long."
Although the plan does endorse President Donald Trump’s call for a military parade, it does not require that it include military units or equipment, which Defense Secretary Jim Mattis may decide would hurt impact readiness. It would, however, provide troops with a 2.6 percent pay raise and improved benefits to help retention and recruitment.
It also includes the 25 percent cut to dozens of Department of Defense agencies, including human resources and media services, which Thornberry claims would save $25 billion.
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