House Republican Whip Tom Emmer responded to the White House accusing the new GOP majority of planning to “defund” the military in the House rules package, saying “the Biden administration is peddling lies.”
“The Biden administration is peddling lies because they are terrified House Republicans will soon hold them accountable for the bloated bureaucracy and reckless spending that has built up under Democrats’ one-party rule,” Emmer told Fox News on Monday.
The new House Republican majority passed a rules package Monday, with all but one Republican, Texas Rep. Tony Gonzales, voting for the provisions. The package was negotiated after House Speaker Kevin McCarthy received enough votes from Republicans seeking concessions from the California representative. (RELATED: House Passes Rules Package. Here’s What Conservatives Won)
One provision in the package includes freezing the fiscal year 2024 discretionary budget at 2022 levels. The fiscal year 2023 budget has already increased the defense budget by $76 billion from 2022 levels.
The White House accused Republicans of intending to “defund” the military and going against the U.S. “national security needs.”
WASHINGTON, DC – JANUARY 06: U.S. Rep.-elect Tom Emmer (R-MN) (C) talks to Rep.-elect Matt Gaetz (R-FL) (R) and Rep.-elect Paul Gosar (R-AZ) in the House Chamber during the fourth day of voting for Speaker of the House at the U.S. Capitol Building on January 06, 2023 in Washington, DC. The House of Representatives is meeting to vote for the next Speaker after House Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) failed to earn more than 218 votes on several ballots; the first time in 100 years that the Speaker was not elected on the first ballot. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
“This push to defund our military in the name of politics is senseless and out of line with our national security needs,” White House spokesperson Andrew Bates said. “There is bipartisan opposition to defense cuts because making us less capable of keeping the American people safe and advancing our national security interests would be a profound mistake that our nation cannot afford.”
Gonzales also expressed disapproval of the defense cuts, saying the U.S. is facing increasing threats from foreign adversaries.
“When you have aggressive Russia and Ukraine, you’ve got a growing threat of China in the Pacific, you know, I’m going to visit Taiwan here in a couple of weeks, how am I going to look at our allies in the eye and say, I need you to increase your defense budget, but yet America is going to decrease ours,” he said on “Face the Nation.”