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Armed Services panel backs East Coast missile defense site
The committee defeated an amendment from Rep. John Garamendi (D-Calif.) that would have stripped the provision from the Defense authorization bill 28-33 on a near party-line vote. Two Republicans, Rep. Walter Jones (R-N.C.) and Chris Gibson (R-N.Y.), joined Democrats to back the measure.
Strategic Forces subcommittee ranking member Loretta Sanchez (D-Calif.) said in a statement after the vote she was “frustrated” that Republicans “have directed hundreds of millions of dollars to an un-required missile defense system that our own military leaders have clearly stated they do not want.”
Rep. Michael Turner (R-Ohio), chairman of the Strategic Forces subcommittee, said the site was necessary to prepare for a growing threat from Iran and North Korea.
The issue generated some of the most heated debate during the day-session of the committee’s marathon mark-up, which is expected to last until early Thursday morning.
Turner cited Obama’s “hot mic” incident with in March with then-Russian President Dmitry Medvedev in claiming that Congress had to push forward on missile defense because president was not. But Democrats argued he and the Republicans were merely trying to paint the president as weak on national security.
A host of other missile-defense amendments from Sanchez and other Democrats were voted down by the committee, including attempts to limit funds for ground-based interceptors and eliminating a section that would limit funds on the Obama administration’s European missile defense program.
The committee adopted a 48-page amendment from Turner that limits funding for the implementation of the New START treaty with Russia.
