News: ‘Looks like’ House Approps will allocate $740B for defense

Tuesday, January 4, 2022

‘Looks like’ House Approps will allocate $740B for defense

Jan 04, 2022

By Alexander Ward, Connor O'Brien and Quint Forgey

Presented by Lockheed Martin

House Appropriations Chair Rosa DeLauro fields questions.

House Appropriations Chair Rosa DeLauro fields questions at the Capitol in Washington, Tuesday, Sept. 21, 2021. | J. Scott Applewhite/AP Photo

With help from Nahal Toosi, Paul McLeary and Daniel Lippman

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The House Appropriations Committee is close to allocating $740 billion for the Pentagon, $25 billion more than President JOE BIDEN requested, a move that would mark the final step in months of congressional wrangling to boost military spending.

Two House Democratic lawmakers, neither of whom spoke on the record due to sensitive talks, said Appropriations staff and leadership made calls over the recess to see if committee members would approve the $740 billion for this fiscal year. After the conversations, both lawmakers indicated to NatSec Daily the committee is strongly leaning toward allocating the full authorized amount.

"It looks like we will" see $740 billion green-lighted, one of the lawmakers said. Another said Appropriations Chair Rep. ROSA DELAURO (D-Conn.) called to confirm there would be support for providing the Pentagon with more funds than the president requested.

The increase would match the funding level approved in the National Defense Authorization Act, which Biden signed last week. The annual policy bill passed with broad support, but doesn't actually allocate any funding.

Leaders of the House and Senate Appropriations panels are attempting to forge a deal to fund the Pentagon and other federal agencies for the rest of the fiscal year. The government is operating under temporary funding that runs out in mid-February.

Leaders of both parties will need to sign off on any deal, which would encompass funding levels for the Pentagon and non-defense federal agencies as well as an agreement on contentious policy riders, such as whether to continue a ban on federal funding for abortions.

"House Democrats are committed to negotiating an omnibus that meets the needs of communities across the country and protects our national security. We are ready to negotiate toplines, including for defense, with our Republican colleagues as soon as they present us with an offer — something they have refused to do for 64 days," DeLauro told NatSec Daily.

Throughout the fiscal 2022 budget process, Democratic House appropriators stuck closer to Biden's original defense spending request of $715 billion. But Senate appropriators released a draft bill in October that essentially endorsed the higher total. The House side, then, was the only real roadblock to the allocation of the congressionally authorized $740 billion.

The roadblock wasn't so large. DeLauro has been open to increasing defense spending to pass an omnibus bill, especially since Republicans would demand such a raise ahead of a vote. And the NDAA received so much support that it would be politically difficult for lawmakers to rail against the approved total.

Based on the calls two House Democrats received, that roadblock is all but gone and the path to the $740 billion is wide open.

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The Inbox

FIRST IN NATSEC DAILY –– NO P-2 AFGHANS ADMITTED TO U.S. YET: Afghans applying to reach the United States through a special refugee program it unveiled two weeks before the Taliban captured Kabul are likely to face years of waiting, our own NAHAL TOOSI has learned.

On Aug. 2, the State Department announced the P-2 refugee program for Afghans who had worked with certain U.S.-based institutions, including media outlets, but who did not qualify for a Special Immigrant Visa. There have been roughly 11,000 cases referred to the P-2 program, but only around 330 cases are complete enough so far to undergo the main vetting process, a department spokesperson said. It will take at least 12 to 18 months for a P-2 case to get through that vetting, and that's a best-case scenario.

The State Department said from the start that it would take at least a year for applications to go through the processing, and not a single Afghan has been admitted to the United States under the program so far. But the numbers shared by the department — 330 complete cases out of 11,000 referrals — suggest that for most Afghans vying for the program, it will take significantly longer than 12 to 18 months.

The Trump administration gutted the U.S. refugee resettlement program, and the Biden team has been rebuilding its capacity. Still, even in the pre-Trump era, the U.S. resettlement system often took years to process a case, in part because the security checks for refugees are so extensive. Officials also are swamped in dealing with around 75,000 Afghans brought to the United States following an August evacuation from Kabul. Although many of those Afghans are technically not refugees but are allowed on American soil under the temporary "humanitarian parole" program, they are receiving much of the same assistance as refugees.

In short, unless the United States devotes significantly more resources toward the P-2 program, the Afghans referred to it could be in limbo for a long time. That's especially tough given that to get their case processed, they have to be outside Afghanistan.

"The Departments of State and Homeland Security are working to increase efficiency in the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program overall," the State Department spokesperson said.

JUDGE BLOCKS PENTAGON ACTION AGAINST UNVACCINATED SAILORS: A federal judge stopped the Defense Department from punishing 35 Navy sailors — including two dozen SEALs — for refusing to take the Covid-19 vaccine, The Washington Post's DAN LAMOTHE reports.

U.S. District Judge REED O'CONNOR found that the pandemic "provides the government with no license to abrogate" the freedoms of U.S. citizens, including freedom of religion. The "loss of religious liberties outweighs any forthcoming harm to the Navy," O'Connor ruled in a 26-page order, adding that "even the direst circumstances cannot justify the loss of constitutional rights."

The preliminary injunction is a temporary blow to the Pentagon's order to troops to get vaccinated against Covid-19, which has led about 1 million active-duty service members to receive at least one shot. Those who don't comply can be discharged under honorable conditions.

The Biden administration could appeal this decision, potentially prompting a larger and lengthy legal fight that might keep ascending the federal judicial system.

In December, a group of 47 Republican lawmakers filed an amicus brief supporting the lawsuit, guaranteeing that the issue is joining the political fray.

While the SEALs await a government response, attorney ROBERT CAPOVILLA, founding partner of Capovilla & Williams, told our own PAUL MCLEARY that "hundreds" of service members denied religious exemptions have contacted his office, including some senior officers.

"The problem is, I don't see a legal solution because as a military attorney who has been doing this for awhile, I look at it from the perspective of, 'Is the mandate a lawful order?'" Capovilla, a former Army JAG Corps lawyer, said.

"The answer to that question, unfortunately for all of the service members who feel this is a violation of their religious freedom … is yes, it's a lawful order. It's not any different than saying you've got to get the anthrax vaccine to help us win the nation's wars."

Capovilla added that the issue going forward is that the general discharges the military is giving service members will cut them off from some benefits like the GI Bill, while winnowing the pool of people eligible to serve in the military, which is already small and shrinking.

None of the armed services has yet issued a religious exemption, despite thousands of requests. "I have to be honest with the folks who call my office, based on where the DoD has come down on this," Capovilla added. As of now, "there's a zero percent chance of getting the exemption."

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SOLEIMANI ANNIVERSARY PROMPTS ATTACKS ON U.S. ALLIES: The Wall Street Journal's JARED MALSIN notes how America's friends in the Middle East suffered the brunt of Iran-aligned militia attacks on the two-year anniversary of QASSEM SOLEIMANI's assasination.

"Yemen's Houthi rebels seized an Emirati-flagged ship, explosive-laden drones targeted the Iraqi capital's airport and hackers hit two Israeli newspapers on Monday," he reported, which "followed protests by Iran-allied paramilitary groups in Iraq over the weekend." Importantly, Malsin underscored, "the attacks on Monday were less severe than previous assaults by Iran-aligned paramilitary groups during the past two years."

What remains unclear is just how much involvement Tehran had in the attacks, especially since its control over the militias has slipped in recent months. Still, anger over the Soleimani assasination clearly remains palpable among his supporters.

FIRST WOMAN COMMANDS U.S. AIRCRAFT CARRIER DEPLOYMENT: For the first time ever, a U.S. aircraft carrier deployed with a woman in charge, The San Diego Union-Tribune's ANDREW DYER reported.

USS Abraham Lincoln departed San Diego on Monday morning for the western Pacific, led by Capt. AMY BAUERNSCHMIDT, who took over in August. The routine mission also will be the first carrier deployment for a Marine Corps F-35C fighter squadron.

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Flashpoints

LITHUANIAN LEADER REGRETS TAIWAN TIFF: President GITANAS NAUSĖDA — Lithuania's head of state — is openly criticizing his own government's decision to allow Taiwan to open a representative office in the capital of Vilnius under the name of the contested island nation, per Bloomberg's MILDA SEPUTYTE.

The controversial move in November prompted China to downgrade diplomatic ties with Lithuania, recalling its ambassador and allegedly blocking the Baltic nation's exports. China has denied that latter charge, but it nevertheless resulted in the European Union raising the international spat with the World Trade Organization.

Nauseda, who oversees Lithuania's foreign policy, expressed regret in a radio interview that the official name of the office "has become the key factor that now affects relations with China." He said: "I would think that, not the opening of the Taiwanese office, but the name of it was the mistake, something with which I wasn't consulted."

Later Tuesday, RADVILĖ MORKŪNAITĖ, the deputy speaker of Lithuania's parliament, lashed back at Nauseda in a Facebook post, calling the president's position one of "consistent inconsistency."

Keystrokes

ANALYSIS FINDS FACEBOOK AT FAULT AHEAD OF INSURRECTION: A new investigation by ProPublica and The Washington Post tallied at least 650,000 posts to Facebook groups between the 2020 election and the Capitol insurrection that questioned the results of the White House race and the legitimacy of Biden's win, per CRAIG SILVERMAN, CRAIG TIMBERG, JEFF KAO and JEREMY B. MERRILL.

The ProPublica/Post analysis — which reviewed millions of posts from Nov. 2, 2020, to Jan. 6, 2021, and incorporated interviews with former Facebook employees, as well as internal company documents — "provides the clearest evidence yet that Facebook played a critical role in the spread of false narratives that fomented the violence of Jan. 6," the authors write.

Furthermore, the investigation found that efforts by Facebook "to police such content … were ineffective and started too late to quell the surge of angry, hateful misinformation coursing through Facebook groups — some of it explicitly calling for violent confrontation with government officials, a theme that foreshadowed the storming of the Capitol that day amid clashes that left five people dead."

DREW PUSATERI — a spokesperson for Meta, Facebook's parent company — argued in a statement that the former president, not the social media platform, was to blame for the siege. "The notion that the January 6 insurrection would not have happened but for Facebook is absurd," he said. "[Trump] pushed a narrative that the election was stolen, including in-person a short distance from the Capitol building that day. The responsibility for the violence that occurred on January 6 lies with those who attacked our Capitol and those who encouraged them."

The Complex

PENTAGON'S ANTI-EXTREMISM PUSH STILL WORK IN PROGRESS: A year after the Capitol insurrection, Defense Department officials, lawmakers and outside experts say there's still more that needs to be done to crack down on extremism in the ranks, our own BRYAN BENDER reports.

At least 80 of the 700 individuals charged in the Jan. 6 attack have a record of military service, and one study puts the figure as high as 118 — or more than 15 percent. Last month, Defense Secretary LLOYD AUSTIN issued a memo ordering "increased clarity" on what constitutes extremist behavior and approved revised guidelines that add new activities to the list of prohibited actions.

However, military leaders have yet to develop recommended training for commanders and senior enlisted leaders to spot radical elements within their units, and proposed reforms to the military justice system to make extremism a crime are the focus of a new review mandated by Congress.

Perhaps most challenging of all, Bender writes, "the Pentagon needs to avoid the mistake it has made too many times before: losing focus on an enduring threat once the public and high-level attention fades. But there are serious doubts leaders have the staying power to make the new efforts stick."

On the Hill

JAN. 6 COMMITTEE SEEKS OATH KEEPER PHONE RECORDS: The House panel investigating the insurrection has subpoenaed the phone records of two Oath Keepers charged with breaching the Capitol, our own KYLE CHENEY reports.

" KELLY and CONNIE MEGGS, two of 19 defendants in the most sprawling case to emerge from the mob attack on the Capitol, say they were notified of the subpoena by Verizon last month. The subpoena seeks phone records of their family plan from November 2020 through January 2021," he wrote. "It's the first indication that the committee is seeking records of defendants facing criminal charges for storming the Capitol."

In their lawsuit, Cheney notes, "the Meggses say the subpoena is illegitimate because it doesn't further the committee's legislative purpose, could prejudice a future jury and seeks too broad a tranche of records from Verizon."

Both the committee and the Justice Department are conducting Jan. 6 investigations. This subpoena is "the closest overlap yet" between their probes, Cheney reported.

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Broadsides

TESLA SLAMMED FOR XINJIANG SHOWROOM: Activists in the United States are taking Tesla Inc. CEO ELON MUSK to task for the electric car manufacturer's opening of a new showroom in China's northwestern region of Xinjiang, where Washington has repeatedly accused Beijing of perpetrating human rights abuses against ethnic Uyghur Muslims, per The Associated Press.

Since Tesla launched the showroom last week in the Xinjiang capital of Urumqi, the Council on American-Islamic Relations has been among the groups calling on the company and Musk (Time magazine's 2021 Person of the Year) to shut down the site. "No American corporation should be doing business in a region that is the focal point of a campaign of genocide targeting a religious and ethnic minority," CAIR communications director IBRAHIM HOOPER said in a statement.

U.S. condemnations of China's activity in Xinjiang have been consistent from both Democrats and Republicans in recent years. In one of his final acts at Foggy Bottom, former Secretary of State MIKE POMPEO labeled the treatment of the Uyghurs as a "genocide." And last month, the White House cited China's crimes against humanity as a reason for the U.S. diplomatic boycott of the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing. Both the Trump and Biden administrations have imposed numerous sanctions related to the human rights abuses.

Transitions

— FIRST IN NATSEC DAILY: VICTORIA COATES has joined the American Foreign Policy Council as a distinguished fellow in strategic studies. She most recently was a senior fellow at the Center for Security Policy and is the former deputy national security adviser for the Middle East and North Africa and former senior policy adviser to the secretary of Energy in the Trump administration.

— ASHLEY FENG has joined the Office of the Secretary of Defense's China policy team, working on economic and technology issues. She most recently was a nonresident fellow at the Atlantic Council's Global China Hub.

— JONATHAN MILLER has joined the federal government relations team at Cornerstone Government Affairs. He most recently served as chief of staff for the Defense Health Agency Research and Development Directorate.

— JASPREET GILL will begin work later this month as an emerging technology and defense networks reporter at Breaking Defense. She currently is a senior technology reporter for Inside Defense.

— DAVID WERTIME will begin work later this month as a senior adviser in the Office of International Financial Markets at the Treasury Department, with a focus on U.S. policy toward China. He is an incoming International Affairs Fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations and previously worked at Protocol and POLITICO.

What to Read

— STEPHEN MARCHE, The Guardian: "The Next U.S. Civil War Is Already Here — We Just Refuse to See It"

— BRANDY ZADROZNY and BEN COLLINS, NBC News: " From the Capitol to the City Council: How Extremism in the U.S. Shifted After Jan. 6"

— ELIAN PELTIER, The New York Times: "Changing Brussels Neighborhood Tries to Leave Stigma of Terrorism Behind"

Tomorrow Today

— The Atlantic Council, 9 a.m.: "Renewing the Path Toward Democracy: Venezuela Post-January 5 — with DIEGO AREA, KEVIN O'REILLY, ROBERTO PATIÑO, EVELYN PINTO, DOMINGO SADURNÍ and FABIANA SANTAMARIA "

— Senate Rules and Administration Committee, 10 a.m.: "Oversight of the U.S. Capitol Police Following the January 6th Attack on the Capitol, Part III — with J. THOMAS MANGER"

— Washington Post Live, 11 a.m.: " Jan. 6: One Year Later — with JAMIE RASKIN"

— The Atlantic Council, 12:30 p.m.: "Running on Fumes? The Fight to Fix Ukraine's Energy Sector — with ANDERS ÅSLUND, OLGA BIELKOVA, JOHN HERBST, MAXIM TIMCHENKO and SVITLANA ZALISHCHUK"

— The Atlantic Council, 2 p.m.: "The Next National Defense Strategy and the Imperative of Closer Cooperation With Allies — with JAMES E. CARTWRIGHT, ARUN IYER, ELLEN M. LORD, DAVID OCHMANEK, BARRY PAVEL, DAVID PETRAEUS, STACIE PETTYJOHN and CLEMENTINE STARLING"

DON'T MISS CONGRESS MINUTES: Need to follow the action on Capitol Hill blow-by-blow? Check out Minutes, POLITICO's new platform that delivers the latest exclusives, twists and much more in real time. Get it on your desktop or download the POLITICO mobile app for iOS or Android. CHECK OUT CONGRESS MINUTES HERE.

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And thanks to our editor, John Yearwood, who has never called us to offer $740 billion.

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