WASHINGTON, March 18 (Sputnik) — The US House of Representatives will pass a defense budget by mid-May despite current disagreements among Republicans, House Armed Services Committee Chairman Mac Thornberry told reporters on Wednesday.
The House Republican leadership has proposed a base defense budget of $523 billion, which is $38 billion less than the budget requested by US President Barack Obama.
The current House budget under consideration would make up for the funding gap by authorizing approximately $90 billion in Overseas Contingency Operations (OCO) funding, according to statements by US House Budget Committee Chairman Tom Price.
“There’s a lot of concern among members of this committee about having part of the funding for the Department of Defense contingent upon something, and I think that causes real problems,” Thornberry said of the current Republican proposal.
During a Wednesday US House Armed Services Committee hearing, Thornberry asserted that the Congress will have a defense authorization bill “before December.”
