The Washington Democrat with the state’s biggest voice on defense issues in Congress endorsed cuts to Pentagon spending in President Obama’s 2014 budget proposal, a contrast to Republican leaders who want to maintain the military’s present budget.
“We can no longer pretend that we don’t have to make hard choices in the defense budget,” Rep. Adam Smith, D-Bellevue, said today at the start of a budget hearing at the House Armed Services Committee. He’s the ranking Democrat on the committee.
Obama’s budget calls for $119 billion in cuts to planned defense spending between 2017 and 2023, far less than the …