On this edition of Your Call, we discuss the Trump administration’s proposed $1.5 trillion defense budget.
Last week, on Tuesday, Senate Democrats blocked the advancement of Trump’s $1.15 trillion defense spending bill over his war with Iran. This move comes days after the US and Iran resumed fighting, with Democrats growing increasingly frustrated that the US has remained involved in a war Trump undertook without congressional authorization
The next day, on Wednesday, over 100 House Democrats voted to end military aid to Israel. Though the measure to slash $3.3 billion in planned military aid to Israel did not pass, The Guardian’s Chris Stein reports that this vote marked “a significant rebuke of a the longtime US ally as accusations that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government green-lit genocide in Gaza continue to convulse the party ahead of November’s midterm elections.”
Where do things stand on Trump’s unprecedented military budget? How is public opinion reshaping Democratic priorities?
Guests:
Allison McManus, managing director for the National Security and International Policy department at the Center for American Progress
Chris Stein, senior politics reporter with The Guardian US
Resources:
The Guardian: Senate Democrats block advancement of defense bill to protest Trump’s hostilities with Iran
The Guardian: House defeats bid to end military aid to Israel as over 100 democrats vote for it
The Center for American Progress: The President’s $1.5 Trillion Pentagon Budget Will Not Make the Country Safer
The New York Times: Senate Democrats Block Defense Bill Over War in Iran
