Facing a sticky political battle in coming months over spending, Democrats on Tuesday unveiled a two year plan which boosts spending by almost $90 billion for both the military and domestic programs in the federal budget, reinforcing fairly substantial 2020 budget differences at this point among House Democrats, Senate Republicans, and the White House.
The two year plan from Democrats - which will be aired at a meeting of the House Budget Committee on Wednesday - would raise the statutory budget 'caps' on spending for both defense and non-defense programs, a move that Congress has made three times, most recently in 2017, in order to avoid across-the-board 'sequester' cuts mandated by a 2011 bipartisan budget deal.
The budget blueprint from Democrats is much different than budget plans put forward by both the White House and Republicans in the Senate, which follow the current spending limits in law, but funnel extra money to the Pentagon through what's known as the "Overseas Contingency Operations" fund - often derided by critics as nothing more than a military slush fund, and a budgetary gimmick.
House Democrats named their plan, "The Investing for the People Act," making the case that it is time to raise what they labeled the "arbitrary and irresponsible" spending caps put in place by a 2011 bipartisan budget deal, known as the Budget Control Act.
Here is how the budget proposals compare from the President, House Democrats, and Senate Republicans:
+ Trump 2020 - $576 billion defense, $542 billion non-defense. $174 billion in OCO for a defense budget of $750 billion.
+ House Dems 2020 - $664 billion defense, $631 billion non-defense. $69 billion in OCO for a defense budget of $733 billion.
+ Senate GOP 2020 - $576 billion defense, $542 billion non-defense. $67 billion in OCO for a defense budget of $643 billion.
Last week, Republicans on the Senate Budget Committee approved their own budget outline for 2020, touting reductions in future spending over the next five years of more than half a billion dollars.
Over half of those budget savings - $281 billion - was in money being spent on health care, along with $72 billion in education.
"The budget does not solve all of our fiscal challenges, but it starts the process to rein in deficits and debt and provide the foundation for a stronger future for our children and grandchildren," said Sen. Mike Enzi (R-WY), the Chairman of the Senate Budget Committee.
Neither the White House nor Senate Republicans would raise the actual spending 'caps' as Democrats are proposing - a move which would need to be approved by both the House and Senate, and then signed by the President.
“The Investing for the People Act lays out a responsible framework for the country that ensures we make the needed investments for American families, our economy and our security,” said Rep. John Yarmuth (D-KY), the head of the House Budget Committee.
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