House Speaker Paul Ryan on Thursday said the underfunding of the U.S. military over the past 8 years has "pushed our military past the breaking point."
During his keynote speech at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) in Washington, Ryan chided Democrats for "playing politics" with the spending bill, emphasizing that "our men and women in uniform are not bargaining chips."
"Our men and women in uniform today are under enormous strain, some of which, frankly, is of our own making," Ryan said during his address.
"We have simply pushed our military past the breaking point," Ryan told the assembly. "Instead of upgrading our hardware, we have let our equipment age. Instead of equipping our troops for tomorrow's fight, we have let them become woefully under-equipped."
Ryan's speech comes ahead of Friday's deadline for Congress to pass a spending deadline, one many fear will lead to another stopgap bill that kicks the can down the road to February if not a shutdown of the government.
"We cannot allow this vital primary work to be layered into or minimized as Washington melodrama. And that's our big problem right now," Ryan said.
"The Pentagon cannot plan for the future if it keeps operating under these short-term spending bills. The days of budget uncertainty and under-funding need to come to an end," Ryan said.
Ryan saved the bulk of his criticism for Senate Democrats, whose votes - at least 9 - are needed to pass any appropriations bill, but who are dug in over DACA and a dollar-for-dollar increase in non-defense spending to match defense spending.
"They need to stop playing politics with this. And that's my biggest concern, the politicization of our men and women in army. Our men and women in uniform are not bargaining chips," Ryan said.
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