U.S. Senate Republicans on Tuesday successfully defended their bid to avoid across-the-board budget caps by using some $38 billion in "emergency" war funding to expand military spending.
Senators voted 51-46, along party lines, to defeat an amendment to an annual defense policy bill that would have barred a Republican-led plan to use the special war funds to avoid the spending cap, but only for the Department of Defense.
The mandatory spending limits have been in place for two years.
In an early gambit in what is expected to be a difficult partisan clash over U.S. budget and tax policy in the next several months, Democrats have been threatening to hold up spending bills until lawmakers agree on a plan to scrap mandatory spending limits for domestic programs as well as defense.
Republicans argue that the military should be spared many of the so-called sequestration cuts to ensure national security, but they accuse Democrats of using the issue to camouflage a desire for spending on pet programs where costs should be controlled.
Democrats say that other programs subject to the spending caps, such as medical research, police funding and education, are also important.
The Overseas Contingency Operations money, intended to fund ongoing wars, does not count against the budget caps.
President Barack Obama asked for $50 billion in OCO funding in his budget request, but Congress added $38 billion for the Pentagon.
(Reporting by Patricia Zengerle, editing by G Crosse)