by Travis J. Tritten | May 22, 2017
In February, President Trump told a cheering crowd at the Conservative Political Action Conference that his administration was working on a "massive" defense budget request.
"Offensive, defensive, everything. Bigger and better and stronger than ever before," the president said. "It will be one of the greatest military buildups in American history."
When the White House unveils the president's full 2018 defense budget on Tuesday, lawmakers, experts and industry will finally get to see how far it will move the country toward the much bigger military promised by Trump. That military would have about 75 more Navy ships, 65,000 more soldiers, hundreds more Air Force tactical aircraft and more Marine Corps battalions.
The answer might be not very far, at least in the coming year.
The administration hemmed itself in when it announced in March that total national defense baseline spending would be $603 billion, part of what the Office of Management and Budget said was an effort to rebuild the military while also not increasing public debt. It includes deep cuts to non-defense programs to offset the defense costs. The $603 billion includes $574 billion in base Defense Department spending and $29 billion for "other" national defense, including nuclear-related activities in the Energy Department.
On top of that, the administration proposes $65 billion for overseas contingency operations, for a total national defense spending bill of $668 billion. Overseas account funding is not subject to Budget Control Act spending caps, however, so most of the focus is on the $603 billion in baseline funding.
"The budget outline that [the Office of Management and Budget] released …
is not enough to keep the promises the president has made to fix our military and to expand," said Rep. Mac Thornberry, chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, who has challenged Trump's plans as too frugal.
http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/trumps-historic-military-buildup-vision-has-a-money-problem/article/2623540
