{"id":47242,"date":"2020-10-07T11:19:21","date_gmt":"2020-10-07T11:19:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/navytimes\/uncategorized\/2020\/10\/07\/democrats-face-internal-fight-on-defense-spending-says-smith\/"},"modified":"2026-08-07T23:34:16","modified_gmt":"2026-08-07T23:34:16","slug":"democrats-face-internal-fight-on-defense-spending-says-smith","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/navytimes\/news\/pentagon-congress\/2020\/10\/07\/democrats-face-internal-fight-on-defense-spending-says-smith\/","title":{"rendered":"Democrats face internal \u2018fight\u2019 on defense spending, says Smith"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">WASHINGTON \u2015 The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.defensenews.com\/congress\/2020\/09\/11\/biden-not-planning-defense-cuts-but-they-may-come-anyway\/\" target=_blank>Democratic split <\/a>over the size of future defense budgets will come to a head in the new Congress, the chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, Rep. Adam Smith, D-Wash., predicted Tuesday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The outcome of the long-simmering dispute would take on higher stakes if some pre-election <a href=\"https:\/\/fivethirtyeight.com\/features\/democrats-are-slight-favorites-to-take-back-the-senate\/\" target=_blank>polling<\/a> becomes a reality and Democrats retake Congress and the White House. Though President Donald Trump and his supporters claim the Democratic Party has been hijacked by the far left, Smith\u2019s remarks suggest the party\u2019s future direction, at least on defense spending, is not yet settled.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Instead of slashing next year\u2019s $740 billion defense budget, as some progressives want, Smith is pushing, \u201ca rational Democratic, progressive national security strategy,\u201d as he called it. That stance seems to align Smith with his party\u2019s pragmatic standard-bearer, Joe Biden, who\u2019s said he doesn\u2019t foresee major defense cuts, if elected.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cI don\u2019t think that rational policy involves 20 percent defense cut, but that fight is going to be had,\u201d Smith said at an event hosted by George Mason University. \u201cThere are extremists on the right and extremists on the left, and what I\u2019m trying to do is say, \u2018Let\u2019s go for pragmatic problem solving.\u2019 I don\u2019t see extremism solving problems.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">If Democrats are swept into power Nov. 3, it will be by voters opposed to President Donald Trump from across the political spectrum, Smith said. To hold on that mandate, Democrats would need to govern with a broad coalition and not overreach from the left on issues like defense.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cOkay, we can win an election because people are appalled by Donald Trump,\u201d Smith said, \u201cbut that doesn\u2019t mean that they\u2019re endorsing us in any sort of huge, dramatic way.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\t<aside class=\"smg-interstitial-link wp-block-smg-interstitial-link\">\n\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/airforcetimes\/news\/2020\/10\/06\/top-military-leadership-quarantines-after-coast-guard-vice-commandant-tests-positive-for-covid-19\/\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__inner\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__media\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"200\" src=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/AP20191674838833.jpg.jpg?w=300\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__image wp-post-image\" alt=\"\" \/>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__content\">\n\t\t\t\t<span class=\"smg-interstitial-link__kicker\">Related<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t<h3 class=\"smg-interstitial-link__title\">Top military leadership quarantines after Coast Guard vice commandant tests positive for COVID-19<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p class=\"smg-interstitial-link__excerpt\">The Pentagon says the other senior military leaders have not tested positive for the coronavirus, but are self-quarantining out of caution.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/a>\n\t<\/aside>\n\t\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">After the House passed an early version of last year\u2019s defense policy bill without Republicans aboard, negotiations to reconcile it with theWhite House and GOP-held Senate dragged for months before a compromise bill passed Congress with progressive priorities stripped from it, leaving them <a href=\"https:\/\/www.defensenews.com\/congress\/2019\/12\/11\/house-passes-progressive-defense-bill-377-48\/\" target=_blank>dissatisfied<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This year, many of the progressives&#8217; priorities were deflected from the House\u2019s version of the bill, and it passed the chamber with support from more than half of Republicans and more than two-thirds of Democrats.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Military spending remains popular with most Republicans, and they largely opposed progressive amendments in the House and Senate this summer to slash the authorization bill by 10 percent. HASC member Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., called the House amendment, \u201ca deeply irresponsible stunt.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Biden and congressional Democrats are already <a href=\"https:\/\/www.defensenews.com\/congress\/2020\/07\/20\/defund-pentagon-effort-holds-message-for-biden\/\" target=_blank>under pressure<\/a> from progressives like Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., who have been part of a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.defensenews.com\/congress\/2020\/05\/19\/house-progressives-demand-pentagon-cuts-citing-pandemic\/\" target=_blank>campaign <\/a>to direct spending away from the military in favor of healthcare, education and jobs. Massive spending on national security, they say, didn\u2019t protect the country from COVID-19.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cYou have a progressive movement in the party now that is really motivated and mobilized around foreign policy and national security issues, and that\u2019s not going away,\u201d Matt Duss, a Sanders foreign policy aide, told Defense News last month. \u201cThat is something a President Biden will have to work with, and I think his team understands that.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\t<aside class=\"smg-interstitial-link wp-block-smg-interstitial-link\">\n\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/congress\/2020\/01\/03\/hasc-chair-adam-smith-on-how-dems-can-win-in-2020-mideast-wars-and-acquisition-reform\/\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__inner\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__media\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"169\" src=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/20180905_Defense_News_Conference063.jpg.jpg?w=300\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__image wp-post-image\" alt=\"\" \/>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__content\">\n\t\t\t\t<span class=\"smg-interstitial-link__kicker\">Related<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t<h3 class=\"smg-interstitial-link__title\">HASC Chairman Adam Smith on Mideast wars, acquisition reform and 2020 elections<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p class=\"smg-interstitial-link__excerpt\">Rep. Adam Smith talks national security, the presidential race and the next defense authorization bill.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/a>\n\t<\/aside>\n\t\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">As both Biden, Trump and lawmakers of both parties have called for the U.S. to extricate itself from the Mideast and end the \u201cendless wars\u201d in Iraq and Afghanistan, Smith said it\u2019s important to educate a war-weary American people about why it\u2019s unwise to retreat from the world stage \u2015 marked by hotspots in Libya, Syria and West Africa.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cWe\u2019ve got to make the case to them: \u2018Here\u2019s why the defense budget is what it is, here\u2019s why we\u2019re trying to accomplish what we\u2019re trying to accomplish, and here\u2019s why it\u2019s in your best interest,\u2019\u201d Smith said. \u201cAnd we\u2019re going to be very aggressive about having public hearings and public discussions to listen to people, to listen to those concerns and try to address them.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Pentagon\u2019s five-year defense plan indicates it will request flat defense spending after 2021, and \u2015 amid pandemic-related expenses and historic deficits \u2015 the budget is widely expected to stay flat regardless of who is president. Smith pretty much echoed that view Tuesday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cI think the reasonable assumption is yeah, the defense budget is going to be flat for a while \u2015 and there is no reason on Earth in my view that we cannot defend the United States of America for $700 to $740 billion,\u201d Smith said. \u201cSo I think the better question, the question to focus on, is how do we get more out of it?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">On that one, Smith echoed some ideas from his committee\u2019s bipartisan Future of Defense Task Force. Its <a href=\"https:\/\/www.defensenews.com\/congress\/2020\/09\/29\/future-defense-task-force-scrap-obsolete-weapons-and-boost-ai\/\" target=_blank>report<\/a> emphasized the need, in order to compete with a surging China, to divest from some legacy programs and heavily invest in artificial intelligence, among other potentially game-changing technologies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Citing a spate of acquisition failures, Smith said Washington has to work with its defense contractors \u201cabout how we spend our money and the results we get for that money.\u201d He also acknowledged the need to protect key contractors stressed by the pandemic\u2019s economic impacts and strengthen the industrial base overall.<\/p>\n\n\n\t<aside class=\"smg-interstitial-link wp-block-smg-interstitial-link\">\n\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/commentary\/2020\/08\/06\/with-billions-of-dollars-at-stake-lets-responsibly-and-deliberately-spend-americas-funds\/\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__inner\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__media\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"200\" src=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/6215133-1.jpg.jpg?w=300\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__image wp-post-image\" alt=\"\" \/>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__content\">\n\t\t\t\t<span class=\"smg-interstitial-link__kicker\">Related<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t<h3 class=\"smg-interstitial-link__title\">With billions of dollars at stake, let\u2019s responsibly and deliberately spend America\u2019s funds<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p class=\"smg-interstitial-link__excerpt\">Two lawmakers warn that hastily passing out money is simply not the solution to a complex problem.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/a>\n\t<\/aside>\n\t\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Smith defended the Pentagon\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.defensenews.com\/congress\/2020\/06\/02\/688m-in-covid-aid-helping-defense-firms-per-dod-plan\/\" target=_blank>allocation<\/a> of hundreds of millions of dollars in pandemic relief funding for items like jet and submarine parts instead of increasing the country\u2019s supply of medical equipment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The remarks seemed to set him at odds with liberals like Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., and Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Calif., who have asked the Defense inspector general to look into the department\u2019s \u201creported misuse\u201d of funds. The Democrat-led House Oversight and Reform Committee, Financial Services Committee, and select subcommittee on the coronavirus crisis are conducting a joint investigation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThree committees in Congress are now investigating this, and I\u2019m not one of them because there\u2019s nothing to investigate here, in my view,\u201d Smith said. \u201cThis was part of the CARES Act: We gave a billion dollars to DoD to deal with COVID-related expenses. Very specifically, it said one of the COVID related expenses you could deal with was the defense industrial base, which they did. And now we\u2019re chewing on them for doing that.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Smith said the Pentagon did \u201cnothing illegal,\u201d but he suggested it\u2019s reasonable to explore whether DoD balanced the money it received appropriately and whether its payments to large contractors are flowing to smaller, more vulnerable firms, as they should.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cI think it is important to make sure we keep the industrial base going,\u201d Smith said, \u201cbut there\u2019s going to be pressure on that [decision].\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Democratic split over the size of future defense budgets will come to a head in the new Congress, the chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, Rep. Adam Smith, D-Wash., predicted Tuesday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":34733,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-noindex":"","_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-nofollow":"","_yoast_wpseo_canonical":"","_acf":"","_yoast_wpseo_primary_category":62,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_smg_distribution_targets":[]},"categories":[101,12,26,62],"tags":[],"coauthors":[3216],"class_list":["post-47242","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-daily-news-roundup","category-news","category-newsletters","category-pentagon-congress"],"acf":{"subheadline":"","legacy_arc_id":"GFOEJ7A5RND3LENTJV34QEEC3A","arc_canonical_url":"\/congress\/2020\/10\/07\/democrats-face-internal-fight-on-defense-spending-says-smith\/","remove_feature_photo":false,"is_sponsored":false,"subtype":"","redirect_url":"","disable_inline_ads":false,"native_logo_pretext":"Presented By:"},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.0 (Yoast SEO v28.1) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Democrats face internal \u2018fight\u2019 on defense spending, says Smith - Navy Times<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The Democratic split over the size of future defense budgets will come to a head in the new Congress, the chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, Rep. Adam Smith, D-Wash., predicted Tuesday.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Democrats face internal \u2018fight\u2019 on defense spending, says Smith\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The Democratic split over the size of future defense budgets will come to a head in the new Congress, the chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, Rep. Adam Smith, D-Wash., predicted Tuesday.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/navytimes\/news\/pentagon-congress\/2020\/10\/07\/democrats-face-internal-fight-on-defense-spending-says-smith\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Navy Times\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2020-10-07T11:19:21+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-08-07T23:34:16+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Joe Gould\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Joe Gould\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\n\t    \"@context\": \"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\n\t    \"@graph\": [\n\t        {\n\t            \"@type\": \"Article\",\n\t            \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/navytimes\\\/news\\\/pentagon-congress\\\/2020\\\/10\\\/07\\\/democrats-face-internal-fight-on-defense-spending-says-smith\\\/#article\",\n\t            \"isPartOf\": {\n\t                \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/navytimes\\\/news\\\/pentagon-congress\\\/2020\\\/10\\\/07\\\/democrats-face-internal-fight-on-defense-spending-says-smith\\\/\"\n\t            },\n\t            \"author\": {\n\t                \"name\": \"migration\",\n\t                \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/navytimes\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/cc76c831bb37a926738c8391fca7a3b1\"\n\t            },\n\t            \"headline\": \"Democrats face internal \u2018fight\u2019 on defense spending, says Smith\",\n\t            \"datePublished\": \"2020-10-07T11:19:21+00:00\",\n\t            \"dateModified\": \"2026-08-07T23:34:16+00:00\",\n\t            \"mainEntityOfPage\": {\n\t                \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/navytimes\\\/news\\\/pentagon-congress\\\/2020\\\/10\\\/07\\\/democrats-face-internal-fight-on-defense-spending-says-smith\\\/\"\n\t            },\n\t            \"wordCount\": 1104,\n\t            \"commentCount\": 0,\n\t            \"publisher\": {\n\t                \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/navytimes\\\/#organization\"\n\t            },\n\t            \"image\": {\n\t                \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/navytimes\\\/news\\\/pentagon-congress\\\/2020\\\/10\\\/07\\\/democrats-face-internal-fight-on-defense-spending-says-smith\\\/#primaryimage\"\n\t            },\n\t            \"thumbnailUrl\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/08\\\/gettyimages-1225949396-594x594.jpg.jpg\",\n\t            \"articleSection\": [\n\t                \"Daily News Roundup\",\n\t                \"News\",\n\t                \"Newsletters\",\n\t                \"Pentagon &amp; 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