Military Budget Continues Increasing to About $324 Billion
President George W. Bush’s recent announcement that he will use the outgoing Clinton Administration’s fiscal 2002 Defense Department budget request has sparked a wave of controversy. An OpEd in the February 7 Washington Post blasts President Bush for failing to provide a significant increase, while a New York Times editorial praises his decision not to provide new funds.
However, few in the debate acknowledge that the request still represents a sizable increase.
In fact, the $310 billion figure represents a $19 billion increase from the original fiscal 2001 request presented to Congress in early 2000, and about a $14 billion increase from the fiscal 2001 level after Congress added about $4.5 billion to the Clinton budget.
The $310 billion request for fiscal 2002 referred to in all the articles does not include Department of Energy nuclear weapons activities. The fiscal 2001 request for DOE defense programs was $14.3 billion; the fiscal 2002 figure has not yet been released.
Using the official Office of Management and Budget definition of military spending, which includes both Pentagon and Department of Energy military activities (plus some smaller amounts), the total for military budget authority fiscal 2001 at this point is about $310 billion. If the Department of Energy military activities budget authority for fiscal 2002 stays roughly even at $14 billion, the total military budget request for next year will be $324 billion (before any congressional add-ons or supplemental requests).
Thus despite talk of “holding the line,” military spending will continue to increase significantly. Meanwhile the U.S. is spending more than the next 12 biggest defense spenders combined. We spend more than three times the amount of all our potential enemies combined.
The increase projected for next year is more than four times greater than the State Department’s $3 billion budget. Just the research budget of the Pentagon is greater then all federal education expenditures. Military spending has reached almost 95 percent of the Cold War average. In fact, the Pentagon budget is greater now then it was when Mr. Rumsfeld finished his first term as Secretary of Defense.
Massive investments in defense are not necessary to fulfill President Bush’s promise to strengthen national defense:
- Simply eliminating billions in unneeded Cold War era weapons could free funds for other priorities such as readiness and advanced weapons research.
- Fixing the Pentagon’s accounting problems would save billions while solving spare parts problems.
- Closing unnecessary bases will save $3-5 billion annually and removing “Buy America” provisions that require the procurement of products made in the U.S. could save $5-7 billion a year.
- According to Sen. John McCain (R-AZ), the Senate’s top pork buster, Congress added $7 billion in unrequested spending to the fiscal 2001 defense spending bill.
- Revising the Pentagon’s unrealistic two war strategy, which defines the size of the military and its procurement needs, would also alleviate many readiness problems and save money.