Ranking Member Coons opposes initial supplemental budget request

WASHINGTON - U.S. Senator Chris Coons (D-Del.), Ranking Member of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense, released the following statement after the Trump administration sent an $87.6 billion supplemental request to Congress:

"Our nation's military has real needs, from filling significant munitions backlogs - partly created by President Trump's war of choice in Iran - to protecting our troops and bases from the lethal, cheap drones that are a fact of modern warfare. But if this supplemental request is in fact a backdoor to authorizing the war in Iran it will not have my vote. President Trump failed to justify the war in Iran, to consult with Congress, and to win the support of the American people. The supplemental needs to deliver real support for the brave Ukrainians who are fighting on the front lines of freedom and who have mastered drone warfare. It should abandon funding for useless vanity projects like Trump's class of battleships for a new "Golden Fleet." The administration also needs to show a serious commitment to funding our military instead of splitting pots of money between supplementals, continuing resolutions, and a doomed reconciliation push. And most of all, it needs have clear spend plans for the tens of billions of dollars in military investment, including money for Ukraine, that they received through the last appropriations process and have yet to fully spend. This bill accomplishes few of those goals, and if brought to the floor, my Democratic colleagues and I would oppose it.

"I will do whatever I can to ensure that our service members have what they need to defend themselves, and our military is ready to face down the threats of the modern age. If this administration also takes those aims seriously, I will work with them to fund them."