FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
March 10, 2023
Contact: press@defensepriorities.org
WASHINGTON, DC—This week, the Biden administration unveiled its 2024 budget which includes a request of $886 billion for defense spending. Defense Priorities Policy Director Benjamin H. Friedman issued the following statement in response:
“The Biden administration’s request of $886 billion for national defense spending in 2024 is an extraordinary amount. That total, in real terms, would be higher defense spending than at any point since World War II, and far more than at any point in the Cold War, even without spending destined for Ukraine, which is not included in regular defense appropriations.
“This historically high spending on defense comes in spite of exploding national debt, which has now grown to be about the size of the U.S. gross domestic product. And it comes without an obvious cause. As opposed to the late aughts, when defense spending reached similar plateaus due to Iraq and Afghanistan, the nation’s war costs now constitute a small fragment of defense’s total.
“Nor is the defense spending boom an effort to balance China. Were that true, the recent increases—over 20 percent real growth since 2015—would be devoted to efforts most likely to be useful in a war with China, like submarines and long-range aviation. The increase is instead spread across the board, suggesting a lack of strategy.
“If U.S. support for Ukraine continues as it has, as the administration suggests it will, real defense spending will exceed a trillion dollars. And even that would not include various other pots of security related spending—Veterans, Homeland Security, the FBI, and more.
“Regular Americans are not getting a good security return for this vast investment—it is a drag on their welfare. The defense budget mostly serves special interests and other countries’ security. The real cost of U.S. security is far cheaper than what we pay for it.”
Author
Benjamin
Friedman
Policy Director
Events on Grand strategy
