GOP Lawmakers Voice Fresh Concern Over Defense Budget Request

Two top Republican lawmakers voiced fresh concern about the fate of President Donald Trump’s $1.5 trillion defense budget request, acknowledging the tough task they’ll face in passing the full amount given the lack of Democratic support and push back within their own party.

“It’s an exercise we’ll have to go through,” Senator Roger Wicker of Mississippi, who chairs the Armed Services Committee, said in an interview. “It’s a matter of bringing the public along and having a national conversation about the importance of programs and expenditures that would support.”

Wicker, who supports the request, said it was possible the ...