12/23/2023 0 Comments Us annual military budgetBut the new motto of the Pentagon and the Congress appears to be "spend now and ask questions later." Rather than matching funding to a viable national security strategy, the Pentagon and the Congress are pushing for whatever the political market will bear. Eisenhower believed that we should spend all we need for national defense and not one penny more. It has been reported that President Dwight D. Chip Roy (R-Texas), that Pentagon cuts should come into play at all. But different members have given different views on how Pentagon spending would fit into a budget freeze, from assertions that it will be “on the table” to a denial by one at least one member, Rep. A group of conservative lawmakers centered around the Freedom Caucus have called for a freeze on the discretionary budget at FY2022 levels. Representatives Barbara Lee (D-Calif.) and Mark Pocan (D-Wis.) have introduced the “People Over Pentagon Act,” which calls for a $100 billion annual cut in the DoD budget. Given threat inflation with respect to China and the ongoing war in Ukraine, there is a danger that the $45 billion added for FY2023 could be the floor for what might be added by Congress in the course of this year’s budget debate.Įxceptions to the rush to throw more money at the Pentagon may come from opposite ends of the political spectrum. Unfortunately, in recent years the House and Senate have accelerated the practice of jacking up the Pentagon’s budget request, adding $25 billion in FY 2022 and $45 billion in FY 2023. When it comes to defense, Congress should engage in careful oversight, not special interest politics. That's no way to craft a budget - or defend a country. Much of the funding for contractors will come from spending on buying, researching, and developing weapons, which accounts for $315 billion of the new budget request.Īs suggested above, Congress will probably add a substantial amount to the Pentagon’s request, largely for systems and facilities located in the states and districts of key members. If past experience is any guide, more than half of the new Pentagon budget will go to contractors, with the biggest share going to the top five - Lockheed Martin, Boeing, Raytheon, General Dynamics, and Northrop Grumman - to build everything from howitzers and tanks to intercontinental ballistic missiles. The proposed budget is far more than is needed to provide an effective defense of the United States and its allies. The result could be the highest military budget since World War II, far higher than at the peaks of the Korean or Vietnam Wars or the height of the Cold War. Adding in likely emergency military aid packages for Ukraine later this year plus the potential tens of billions of dollars in Congressional add-ons could push total spending for national defense to as much as $950 billion or more for FY 2024. Total spending on national defense - including work on nuclear weapons at the Department of Energy - comes in at $886 billion. That’s $69 billion more than the $773 billion the department requested for Fiscal Year 2023. The figure for the Pentagon alone is a hefty $842 billion. The Pentagon released its budget request for Fiscal Year 2024 today.
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