The Senate Budget Committee voted Thursday to boost the Pentagon's war funding account in the GOP budget in fiscal 2016 to $96 billion, essentially matching the House GOP plan to raise the overall level of defense spending. The move came after defense hawks in the Senate fought for higher defense spending than caps imposed by the 2011 Budget Control Act would allow. The Senate budget proposal, unveiled a day earlier, only had $58 billion for the war funding account, but Sens. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) and Kelly Ayotte (R-N.H.) introduced an amendment that would boost that level to $96 billion. The amendment passed by a party-line vote. However, Congress will need to find an offset for the funds in future defense spending, after base defense spending caps are lifted in 2021. Read more http://thehill.com/policy/defense/overnights/236373-overnight-defense-senate-boosts-war-fund-to-96b
