New legislation would effectively block President Trump from staging a military parade after the idea of tanks rolling down Pennsylvania Ave. drew comparisons to North Korea and the Soviet Union.
The "Preparedness Before Parades Act," introduced Thursday by Rep. Brad Schneider, D-Ill., would create rules that make such parades nearly impossible.
“I have severe concerns about the cost, diversion of resources, and effect on readiness of a large-scale parade seemingly conceived only to please the whims of the president,” Schneider said in a statement.
Under the bill, a “large-scale military parade” would require approval from the defense secretary and the municipal government where the event is planned. It could only proceed only if the Executive Office of the President paid at least 50 percent of parade costs.
The mayor and city council members in the District of Columbia reacted with hostility to the reported parade plans and would emerge as a significant roadblock.
The Executive Office of the President does have an annual budget of about $700 million, but much of that is allocated to specific sub-offices such as the Office of Management and Budget and the Office of National Drug Control Policy. The White House itself has an annual budget of about $58 million, lacking significant wiggle room to finance a parade estimated to cost millions of dollars. A 1991 military parade celebrating victory in the Gulf War cost about $12 million.
Under the bill, the defense secretary would have to certify that “the parade will have no effect on the military readiness or budgetary needs of the Armed Forces,” that “the diversion of personnel and equipment associated with the parade will have no effect on the military readiness of the Armed Forces,” and that “the financial costs associated with the parade will have no effect" on military readiness.
Schneider introduced his bill without original co-sponsors, but there's broad bipartisan opposition to a military parade.
"I don't believe we should have tanks or nuclear weapons going down Pennsylvania Avenue,” Rep. Lee Zeldin, R-N.Y., scoffed in a Tuesday television interview.
“I think confidence is silent and insecurity is loud,” said Sen. John Kennedy, R-La.
Robert O’Neill, the politically conservative former Navy SEAL who claims to have killed Osama bin Laden, said Thursday: “A military parade is third world bullshit.”
The Washington Post reported Tuesday Trump recently gave military leaders including Defense Secretary James Mattis orders to plan “a parade like the one in France” on Bastille Day. White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders said Wednesday the parade planning currently was in “a brainstorming session.”
Anti-war organizers vowed Tiananmen Square-style resistance, with activist Arn Menconi collecting the names of volunteers to lay in front of tanks. D.C. Councilman David Grosso, a political independent, said he would organize a large anti-war march if Trump proceeded with a parade.
“This could be the golden opportunity to build a broad-based, energized peace movement,” longtime Code Pink organizer Medea Benjamin told the Washington Examiner.
“If it goes ahead, I think there will be massive protests of all kinds – rallies, civil disobedience, smaller affinity groups doing creative counter parades, clowns, dancing ‘soldiers’ with brass bands, contingents of healthcare workers, teachers,” she said. “I envision a potpourri of actions, with LOTS of people involved.”