![]() “The defense of this nation should never be caught in limbo,” added Sen. One saving is to avoid as strenuously as possible continuing resolutions because they waste tens and tens of billions of dollars every time you do it.” “There are areas that are ripe for efficiencies and savings. “There are some people who speculate that because of the lack of any agreement, we might have to stay at 2023 levels in the form of a CR that to me is unacceptable,” Wicker said. Under stopgap funding, agencies are kept at flat budget levels without being able to shift priorities, start new programs, or ramp up existing ones. To Wicker, the biggest waste comes in the form of stopgap funding-a concern that could materialize if Congress and the White House are gridlocked on debt limit and spending negotiations and resort to continuing resolutions to fund the government. Pentagon ‘Low-Hanging Fruit’ Ripe for Cuts, Key Republican Says “We need to do it efficiently and correctly, no waste, but the challenges that we have right now I think merit an increase.” “We need more defense spending, not less,” Sen. Any trims would amount to a handful of billions of dollars, paling in comparison with the $100 billion cuts progressive Democrats have suggested for several years. The lawmakers who want to cut the Pentagon’s budget suggest considering what Ken Calvert (R-Calif.), the top defense appropriator in the House, has called “low-hanging fruit.” Trying to eliminate waste and abuse comes in undefined terms, with few specifics. “We have a peer competition with the Chinese and it’s something we are going to have to invest in we’re going to have to look at thoughtful investments.”ĭefense Buildup With Eye on China Drives Senate Armed Services ‘Low-Hanging Fruit’ “We have to look very carefully at the threats in the midst of an active support of Ukraine and a very desperate fight that would affect us as well as the Ukrainians,” Reed said in an interview. The Heritage Foundation is convening “top experts in national security and defense to scrutinize the Pentagon’s budget, line by line,” the conservative group’s president, Kevin Roberts, said. Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif) indicated he would be open to some reductions. See also: Pentagon’s Budget to Seek Big Increases for Weapons Buying, R&D Fractured ViewsĪ small contingent of House Republicans wants the defense budget on the cutting board, together with domestic spending, to shrink the growing deficit and the country’s debt burden. Read More: Pentagon Dysfunction Reveals Cracks in US War Machine Despite regular calls for rethinking Pentagon priorities amid ballooning costs, the defense budget would make it unlikely that Congress will drastically tackle troubled programs to extract savings. and General Dynamics Corp., the stakes are high for the defense industry and congressional parochial interests. and new munitions and missiles made by Raytheon Technologies Corp. “While some people may talk about that, it’s not likely to happen.”įrom spending on the perennially delayed and expensive F-35 Joint Strike Fighter made by Lockheed Martin Corp., to the new aircraft carriers from Huntington Ingalls Industries Inc. “There’s no appetite among Democrats or Republicans, there is no majority appetite for trimming the overall numbers” for the Pentagon budget, Roger Wicker (Miss.), the top Republican on the Senate Armed Services Committee, said in an interview. Those who favor cutting defense have so far been drowned out by supporters of ever-higher defense spending to counter Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and China’s muscle-flexing in the Indo-Pacific. Meanwhile, China, the biggest US peer competitor, said its defense spending would grow by 7.2% to $225 billion this year - the fastest pace since 2019 as tensions grow with the US over Taiwan and a range of security issues. The White House on Thursday is expected to request a Pentagon budget for fiscal 2024 that well exceeds the $816 billion enacted for the Department of Defense this year - the biggest-ever defense budget in nominal terms, and also one of the largest peacetime budgets when adjusted for inflation. ![]() The Biden administration and Congress are on track to back a record US defense budget, signaling Pentagon spending is untouchable even as Democrats and Republicans squabble over how to reduce the debt burden. ![]()
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