Democrats block defense spending bill, amid budget fight

[June 19, 2015]  By Patricia Zengerle and Alex Wilts
 
 WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Democrats blocked the fiscal 2016 defense spending bill in the U.S. Senate on Thursday, part of a campaign to force Republicans to start budget negotiations by refusing to allow any appropriations measure to advance to a final vote.

The 50-45 vote failed to achieve the 60 majority needed to advance to final passage, as every Democrat except Senator Joe Donnelly of Indiana voted not to go ahead with the bill.

Thursday's vote was the first test of the Democrats' budget strategy, heralding a difficult battle this year over tax and spending policy.

Senate Democrats and Republicans are fighting over how to deal with so-called "sequestration" spending caps, especially a Republican-led plan to use $38 billion in special war contingency funds to let the Department of Defense sidestep the mandatory restrictions put in place under the 2011 Budget Control Act.

Republicans say defense is so important at a time of international conflict that the Pentagon should not have to wait for Congress to reach a budget deal. They accuse Democrats of maneuvering to spend more taxpayer dollars on programs where spending should be trimmed.

"To hold defense hostage... because somehow we've discovered that no matter what the worldwide situation is there has to be equity in spending, is outrageous," Republican Senator Roy Blunt told a news conference by party leaders after the vote.

Democrats say other programs, including health research and education, are as important as the military. They dismiss the use of the Overseas Contingency Operations (OCO) funds a "gimmick" to avoid making difficult decisions.

"To have a secure nation, it's more than the people who are in armed services," Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid said. "... The FBI needs to be funded, Drug Enforcement needs to be funded, homeland security needs to be funded."

Reid and other Democratic leaders wrote to the Republican Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell before the vote and urged him to begin budget talks next week.

But Republicans do not intend to budge.

McConnell filed a motion to keep the appropriations bill alive for further consideration immediately after the vote.

The measure stalled shortly after the Senate voted 71-25 to pass a defense policy bill authorizing $612 billion in defense spending for fiscal 2016 and starting reforms that could curb costs in the long run.

President Barack Obama, a Democrat, has threatened to veto both bills over issues including the use of the OCO money.

(Reporting by Patricia Zengerle, additional reporting by Alex Wilts; Editing by Sandra Maler and Diane Craft)

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