In Shift, Hill Dems Signal Green Light for East Coast Missile Shield
Even congressional Democrats, typically less hawkish than their GOP cohorts, are beginning to talk about a proposed East Coast missile shield as if it’s a done deal.
After skeptical Senate Democrats late last year shot down a House Armed Services Committee plan to build a new missile defense system on US soil, even its proponents privately called implementation something of a political longshot.
But as North Korea’s young leader, Kim Jong-un, rattled his saber for weeks in late March and early April by threatening the United States with a missile strike, attitudes on Capitol Hill sharply shifted.
Strikingly, even Democrats once chilly to the costly proposal are publicly referring to the idea as if they are ready to stand aside and allow the proposal to become reality — or even support it.
During a Wednesday House Armed Services strategic forces subcommittee hearing, Rep. John Garamendi, D-Calif., dropped any usage of or synonym for “proposed.� Instead, he simply brought up the “construction of the [East Coast] site.�
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