Biden to ask Congress to approve record Pentagon budget to replenish weapons stockpile
The Biden administration is preparing to ask Congress for the largest Pentagon budget in history, which will be aimed at replenishing weapons stocks and supporting Ukraine in its resistance to Russian aggression.
Source: Michael McCord, Pentagon Comptroller, in an interview with Politico
According to McCord, officials in the Biden administration are "very close" to settling on a final topline number for the Defence Department, which the White House will include as part of its overall fiscal 2024 budget request set for release on 9 March.
"I do expect it will be a bigger number than Congress provided last year," McCord said.
While McCord declined to give details about the proposal since it’s still in flux, he said the Pentagon will invest in munitions to replenish U.S. stockpiles and support the continued fight in Ukraine, where both sides are expending thousands of rounds a day.
But the outlook for Biden’s Pentagon budget is increasingly uncertain now that Republicans have taken over the House, where a partisan fight is brewing over the nation’s debt limit.
Republican House Speaker Kevin McCarthy has voiced support for capping spending at fiscal 2022 levels. If the Pentagon is not spared from those cuts, reverting to last year’s budget levels would amount to a nearly US$75 billion cut across the board — roughly 10%.
There are deep divisions within the Republican Party on the issue of potential defence cuts. Many hawkish members have sought to quash any talk of reducing the Pentagon’s budget, instead looking to make cuts to non-military programs.
But a small but vocal faction of budget hardliners in the GOP conference is hellbent on cutting defence spending — and even some, such as Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene, oppose continued aid to Ukraine.
Background:
- In December, lawmakers appropriated US$858 billion in national defence funding – US$45 billion more than Biden sought. The budget also provided US$800 million in aid to Ukraine.
- At the time, it was the most the US had ever spent on the Defense Department, reflecting the Pentagon’s efforts to simultaneously counter the threat from Russia, keep pace with China’s growing technological advantage, modernise the ageing arsenals and fight inflation.
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