Albany Standard

Georgia Representative Austin Scott joins 28 other House Armed Services Committee Republicans urging President Joe Biden to increase the national defense budget for 2023.

The Office of Management and Budget recently released a proposed $5.8 trillion budget for the 2023 fiscal year, reflecting the growing security and economic concerns at home and overseas. The proposal includes a request for $773 billion in discretional funding to be put toward the Department of Defense in addition to increased taxes on multimillionaires and corporations while expanding military spending and spending on domestic priorities such as affordable housing and supply chain issues.

"Our nation faces unprecedented threats from China and Russia and it's unconscionable that President Biden has chosen to once again shortchange our warfighters," Rep. Mike Rogers (R-AL) told Fox News. "By failing to account for inflation, President Biden's budget request would leave America weakened and vulnerable."

In response to the budget proposal, Rogers, who stands as the ranking member of the House Armed Services Committee, joined forces with Sen. Jim Inhofe (R-OK), the ranking member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, to lead Republicans in demanding that Biden raise the defense budget by 5% above the inflation rate, Fox News reported.

House Armed Services Committee Republicans said that the country is facing extraordinary challenges and is in no position to skimp on national security, Fox News reported.

In announcing the budget proposal, however, Biden said that the money being allocated toward defense is nothing to scoff at, the White House reported in a release.

"This will be among the largest investments in our national security in history," Biden said in the release. "Some people don't like the increase, but we're in a different world today. America is more prosperous, more successful, and more just when it is more secure."

Republicans aren't the only ones expressing issues with the budget proposal. Rep. Elaine Luria (D-VA) took to social media to voice her disagreement.

"I have delayed putting out a statement about the Defense Budget because frankly it would have been mostly full of words you might expect from a Sailor, but here goes: It sucks," Luria said in a tweet.

Rep. Mo Brooks (R-AL) said that after adjusting for inflation, which sits at 8%, the defense budget cuts 4% of the Department of Defense's spending power, Fox News reported. Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY), a member of the House Armed Services Committee, said the budget would reduce the effectiveness of the country's security at an inopportune time.

Austin Scott, another member of the House Armed Services Committee, who represents Georgia's 8th Congressional District, is among the the 28 Republican committee members urging Biden to reevaluate the defense budget, the committee reported.