A Biden Administration Would Rewrite NDS, Toss 500-Ship Navy Overboard, Lawmaker Says
By Richard Sisk
29 Oct 2020
A Joe Biden administration is likely to rewrite the National Defense Strategy, scuttle the plan for a 500-ship Navy and spend less on the military, the top House Democrat on defense issues said Thursday.
A push to rename military bases honoring Confederate generals and leaders would also get a boost if former Biden, the former vice president under Barack Obama, defeats President Donald Trump next Tuesday, said Rep. Adam Smith, D-Wash., chairman of the House Armed Services Committee.
The progressive wing of the Democratic party is expected to argue for major cuts in defense budgets to pay for expanded domestic programs, but Smith said he’s opposed to drastic reductions.
“They want to reshift priorities” away from defense spending, Smith said of the progressives.
However, major reductions in the current proposals for a defense budget in the range of $741 billion are probably off the table, Smith said in a virtual “fireside chat” hosted by the Center for a New American Security.
In the Democratic party platform he endorsed, and in previous responses to a survey conducted by the Military Officers Association of America, Biden appeared to suggest a middle way between the hawks and doves on defense spending.
“We can maintain a strong defense and protect our safety and security for less,” Biden said in the MOAA survey. “The real question is not how much we invest — it’s how we invest.”
Read more atwww.defenddemocracy.press/a-biden-administration-would0-ship-navy-overboard-lawmaker-says/
