Background
U.S. Military Budget, Its Components, Challenges, and Growth
Estimated U.S. military spending for the fiscal year 2022 is $754 billion. It covers the period October 1, 2021, through September 30, 2022.1 Military spending is the second-largest item in the federal budget after Social Security.2 This figure is more than the $715 billion outlined by the Department of Defense alone.3 The United States has many departments that support its defense. All these departments must be included to get an accurate picture of how much America spends on its military operations.
Biden’s ’23 Defense Spending request to top $800 Billion
President Joe Biden is expected to release his 2023 budget request on Monday and he’s reportedly set to ask for $813.3 billion in defense and national security spending. The forthcoming request, reported by Bloomberg News, represents an increase of $31 billion, or 4%, over the $782 billion provided in the 2022 annual funding bill Biden signed last week — and a $43 billion boost compared to the White House budget office’s 2023 projection from a year ago.
Lawmakers draw battle lines for FY23 defense spending ahead of White House budget release
Republican leaders are pushing for a 5% increase in defense spending in the White House’s upcoming fiscal 2023 budget proposal, but the chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee argued Wednesday big boosts for the military won’t necessarily mean improved national security. “The budget should be driven by strategy, and not strategy driven by the budget,” Sen. Jack Reed, D-R.I., told reporters during a roundtable. “One of the problems [with the budget] is that too often we just pick a number, rather than say, ‘This is really what we have to do and these are the priorities.’
Analysis: Ukraine crisis could derail drive to limit U.S. defense spending
President Joe Biden is expected to release his 2023 budget request on Monday and he’s reportedly set to ask for $813.3 billion in defense and national security spending. The forthcoming request, reported by Bloomberg News, represents an increase of $31 billion, or 4%, over the $782 billion provided in the 2022 annual funding bill Biden signed last week — and a $43 billion boost compared to the White House budget office’s 2023 projection from a year ago. The defense topline would include $773 billion for the Pentagon and billions more for the Department of Energy’s nuclear weapons and national security programs at other agencies.
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War in Ukraine Rallies Support in Congress for More Military Spending
But last week, as Russian forces continued their assault on Ukraine and he pondered the size of the coming year’s military budget, Mr. Smith sounded a different tone. “I haven’t picked a number yet,” he said, “but without question, it’s going to have to be bigger than we thought.” He added: “The Russian invasion of Ukraine fundamentally altered what our national security posture and what our defense posture needs to be. It made it more complicated, and it made it more expensive.” Similar article
Russia’s Invasion Will Boost 2023 Defense Budget, Top Democrat Says
But the money would also likely go to buy weapons, aircraft, ships, and submarines to make sure the military can deter both Russia and China, Harrison predicted. “Now, Congress and DOD, instead of looking at the overall force structure in terms of being able to meet one major theater war at a time…they’re now forced to look at two almost simultaneous wars and that is going to drive a lot more of a increase in demand for force structure,” he said.
China Defense Budget Rises 7.1%, Fastest Pace in Three Years
China projected defense spending growth of 7.1% this year, the fastest pace since 2019 as President Joe Biden moves to strengthen the U.S.’s position in the Indo-Pacific region. Chinese military expenditures are expected to rise to 1.45 trillion yuan ($229 billion) in the coming year, according the Ministry of Finance’s annual report released Saturday at the start of the National People’s Congress in Beijing. Spending on the People’s Liberation Army has increased by at least 6.6% each year for the past three decades, keeping pace or often exceeding economic growth.
Washington Must Prepare for War With Both Russia and China
Moreover, the United States could go so far as to double defense spending (currently 2.8 percent of GDP) and still remain below its Cold War average (close to 7 percent of GDP). Indeed, given that this new Cold War is every bit as dangerous as the last one, a meaningful increase in defense spending, focused on the 21st century’s emerging defense technologies, is in order.
We need a $1 trillion defense budget
One lesson for the U.S. should be obvious: We need more and better weapons for a newly threatening security environment. Russia’s aggression underlines the potential of the U.S. having to fight simultaneous wars in Europe and Asia, to defend NATO and to stave off a China attack on Taiwan or elsewhere, when our forces currently may not be adequate to winning one fight.
This new struggle has been thrust upon us by Russia and China; there is no escaping it. Strength will be rewarded and weakness will be punished. The days of easy American preponderance have come to an end; for the next few decades we will have to work hard to keep the global balance of forces from turning against us. If history is a guide, the American people will rise to the challenge as long as our own national leadership is up to the task. As we judge those who seek to lead, this is the prime test we should put to all of them.
Opinion: We need a more realistic strategy for the post-Cold War era
Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine has ended Americans’ 30-year holiday from history. For the first time since World War II, the United States faces powerful, aggressive adversaries in Europe and Asia seeking to recover past glory along with claimed territories and spheres of influence. All in defiance of an international order largely shaped by the United States that has kept the peace among great powers for seven decades. The Russian and Chinese challenge to this peaceful order has been developing for a number of years. Putin’s war has provided the cold shower needed to awaken democratic governments to the reality of a new world, a world in which our recent strategy — including the “pivot” to Asia — is woefully insufficient to meet the long-term challenges we face.
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Rise in defense spending means smaller increase for science in new U.S. budget
Last week, Congress agreed to give roughly 5% more money to many federal science agencies when it passed a $1.5-trillion government budget for 2022. But what science advocates had hoped would be a banner funding year fell victim to a bipartisan push to spend much more on defense than President Joe Biden had requested—and to one Democratic senator’s rejection of a separate Biden plan to allocate billions of additional dollars for research.
Washington should think twice about launching a new cold war
The United States already has more than 200,000 troops stationed abroad, 750 military bases scattered on every continent except Antarctica, and continuing counterterrorism operations in 85 countries. The end of U.S. military involvement in Afghanistan and the dramatic scaling back of American operations in Iraq and Syria should have marked the beginning of a sharp reduction in the U.S. military presence in the Middle East and elsewhere. Washington’s reaction to the Russian invasion of Ukraine may now stand in the way of just such a much-needed military retrenchment.
The “us versus them” rhetoric and global military maneuvering likely to play out in the years to come threaten to divert attention and resources from the biggest risks to humanity, including the existential threat posed by climate change. It also may divert attention from a country — ours — that is threatening to come apart at the seams.