Maryland Senator Ben Cardin introduced a bill Thursday that would prevent federal funds from being used to fund a military parade, such as the one President Trump has said he hopes to have this year.
“We don’t need to flex our muscles to showcase our military hardware. Our brave military men and women flex their might around the world every day on behalf of our nation,” Cardin said in a letter to his colleagues to explain the bill.
The senator also said that the parade could have an impact on military readiness, citing training deaths, and ship collisions in the past year, as well as the need to save resources which Cardin argues could be used abroad.
The bill would “prohibit the use of funds for an exhibition or parade of military forces and hardware for review by the President outside of authorized military operations or activities.”
Cardin isn’t the first leader to push back against Trump’s interest in having a military parade. DC leaders have said that they do not support the idea.
"We can't afford a parade. Don't do it," DC Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton said on February 7.
The last military parade in DC was in 1991 after the end of the Gulf War under President George H.W. Bush.
