Reaction to Obama's Defense Budget Outline

The Obama administration's
budget outline for fiscal year 2010 continues the record growth in U.S.
defense spending, an analyst at the Center for Arms Control and
Non-Proliferation said today.

President Obama's defense budget outline provides $534 billion in
fiscal year 2010 funding for the Department of Defense's "base" budget,
which excludes funding for Iraq, Afghanistan, and nuclear weapons
activities.

Without adjusting for inflation, the $534 billion topline request is
$21 billion, or 4.1 percent, greater than the $513 billion appropriated
by Congress in fiscal year 2009 for the Pentagon's base budget. After
adjusting for inflation, the $534 billion topline request is $11
billion, or 2.1 percent, greater than the fiscal year 2009 base budget.

The President's outline also provides $75.5 billion in war funding for
the remainder of fiscal year 2009, as well as $130 billion in war
funding for fiscal yeat 2010. The extra $75.5 billion fiscal year 2009
request, when combined with the $68.5 billion already passed in 2008,
would bring total fiscal year 2009 war funding to $144 billion.

President Obama's budget outline thus requests $664 billion in total Pentagon and war funding for fiscal year 2010. This
figure does not include funding for nuclear weapons or miscellaneous
non-DOD defense costs, which were approximately $23 billion in FY 2009.

"It looks like the pattern of overall growth in Pentagon spending will continue in President Obama's first budget," said Travis Sharp, military policy analyst at the Center for Arms Control and Non-Proliferation. "The annual growth rate, however, appears to be lower than was typical during the Bush years."

Sharp just released a new report analyzing the enormous and unprecedented growth in U.S. defense spending over the past decade. The report is available online.

"Presenting war costs up front is a welcome change from the
Bush administration, which refused to present war budgets at the
beginning of the year even though it was required by law," added Sharp. "It presents a clearer picture of total U.S. defense spending."

Pentagon base budgets have grown steadily over the last decade,
increasing from $370 billion in fiscal year 2000 to $513 billion in
fiscal year 2009, an inflation-adjusted total increase of $143 billion
(39 percent).

When including funding for Iraq, Afghanistan, and nuclear weapons
activities, national defense budgets have grown in inflation-adjusted
dollars from $387 billion in fiscal year 2000 to $687 billion in fiscal
year 2009, a real increase of 78 percent.

The Center's new report also analyzes high-profile weapons systems like
the F-22 Raptor and offers recommendations for reform in 2009. The report is available online.