Mattis: Budget impasse hurting morale

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Defense Secretary Jim Mattis accused Congress on Tuesday of failing in its basic constitutional responsibility to fund the military, telling lawmakers that their ongoing budget impasse was hurting troops’ morale and eroding US advantages over its adversaries. “I cannot care more about our country’s defense than this Congress, for it is Congress alone which has the constitutional authority to ‘raise and support armies’ and to ‘provide and maintain a navy,’” Mattis said. He spoke as the Republican-led US House prepared to vote on another short-term budget measure that would avert another government shutdown, but which the military says would prevent it from properly funding a sorely needed reset and modernization of US forces.