McCarthy’s Speaker Deal Could Stymie Defense Spending Next Year
- His proposal would cap discretionary spending at 2022 levels
- Plan is likely to spur backlash from defense hawks in Congress
Kevin McCarthy
Photographer: Al Drago/BloombergThis article is for subscribers only.
The emerging deal Kevin McCarthy is discussing to make him speaker of the House could make agreements on new defense spending impossible next year, at a time when the US is intent on backing Ukraine against the Russian invasion and growing more wary of China’s stepped up aggression toward Taiwan.
Part of the agreement being discussed would be to cap fiscal year 2024 discretionary spending across government at 2022 levels, according to three people familiar with the discussions. National defense spending, which primarily funds the Pentagon, was about $782 billion in fiscal 2022 and rose $75 billion to $857 billion in fiscal 2023.