Washington defense hawks celebrating Trump victory: Report

Defense hawks in Washington are "quietly celebrating" the election of Donald Trump as they and the president-elect are on the same page on military priorities including military spending, according to a report.

Trump, whose victory over Democratic rival Hillary Clinton in Tuesday’s presidential election virtually shocked everyone, is in favor of increasing the size of the US Army and Navy, modernization of military facilities, weapons and the nuclear arsenal as well as a dramatic boost in the country's missile capabilities.

"This is all music to the ears of not only Republican leaders in defense, but many Democrats too," Michael Herson, a prominent defense lobbyist, told The Washington Post.

Trump has yet to lay out all the specifics of his defense policy, which will be largely implemented by his defense secretary.

Rudy Giuliani, a Trump ally who seeks a cabinet position in his administration, said Sunday that strengthening the military is a big priority of the president-elect.

"He's going to be facing [Russian President Vladimir] Putin with a country that is not diminishing its military but a country that is dramatically increasing it to Reagan-like levels," Giuliani said on CNN, invoking former President Ronald Reagan’s mantra of "peace through strength."

However, Trump’s desire to have a bigger military is estimated to cost anywhere from about $100 billion to $300 billion more over the next four years than the current plan.

Congress, which remained under Republican control, cannot approve that money until it eliminates the budget caps put in place since the start of fiscal 2003 as part of a spending compromise between Republicans and President Barack Obama.

Trump has called for the end of those budget limits and said he would specifically ask Congress to get rid of the defense sequester. During a September speech in Pennsylvania, he vowed to “submit a new budget to rebuild our military.”

That plan would still face roadblocks in Congress as Trump has to work with many fiscally-conservative lawmakers on a series of controversial tax reforms and entitlement cuts.

“There is considerably more demand for defense spending than there is money to meet that demand,” Rep. Adam Smith, ranking member of the House Armed Services Committee, said in the morning of the election.

“Look at all the programs that are out there, from the B-21 (bomber) to upgrades to our submarines, upgrades to our arsenal, to rising personnel costs - add it all up and it is vastly more money than we're going to have,” the Democrat from Washington said.  

“How do you deal with that?" the lawmaker asked.

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