Biden follows Trump’s lead on military spending

Speaking Security Newsletter | Advisory Note for Organizers and Candidates, n°79 | 20 April 2021

Apr 21, 2021

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Situation

New SPRI policy memo out today. Please read (excerpt below) and share:

Security Policy Reform Institute @security_reform

The Biden-Harris proposal boosts military spending to $753 billion, $12 billion more than under Trump. This $12 billion increase is about equal to the CDC's entire annual budget. securityreform.org/commentary/202…

An excerpt from the memo

There is nothing progressive about Biden’s military budget request. Before the president releases his official budget request for next year, congressional Democrats need to make a unified, sustained effort to establish that in the public’s eye.

The part of the memo that got cut out of the final version

Unless there is a compelling progressive effort, a $753 billion military budget should be considered the floor. Congress will almost certainly add even more funds on top of Biden’s original request, for two reasons:

Congress usually does that. Since 2002, Congress has added $236.4 billion on top of the President’s request (that works out to $11.82 billion/year).
Biden’s budget request preview says it will transition away from legacy military platforms/weapons systems and buy new technology instead. That means Congress will buy new stuff and the old stuff, too. Due to political engineering, canceling legacy platforms/systems is an extremely difficult thing to get by Congress.

Thanks for your time,

Stephen (@stephensemler; stephen@securityreform.org)

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