President Obama hinted Monday afternoon that he will veto the defense bill moving through Congress because it cuts domestic spending in order to provide significant increases in defense programs.

"What we are not going to do is to accept a budget that shortchanges our long-term requirements for new technologies, for readiness," Obama said. "We're not going to eat our seed corn by devoting too much money to things we don't need right now."

The House and Senate versions of the fiscal 2016 defense authorization bill are being negotiated. Both versions rely on the wartime spending account, which is not covered by sequester-related budget caps, to pay for items that go above the caps.

The president said lawmakers must think in the long term, and any bill that shortchanges education, research and other domestic priorities makes the U.S. "less secure."

Obama was careful to say that if he does veto the bill, it will not affect military pay.

"Our men and women are going to get paid. I've now been president for six and a half years, and we've had some wrangling in the past — our service members haven't missed a paycheck."