Pentagon Budget Proposal Comes in at $715 Billion but GOP Complaining It’s Still Not Enough

The Biden Administration officially released is FY22 budget yesterday and as previously reported, the proposal for the Pentagon comes in at $715 billion, which is being portrayed as a flat line from FY21, with a 1.6% increase over 2021, or even a slight reduction, since the proposed increase is less than the rate of inflation. The budget request places an emphasis on the future battlefield, with the Defense Department primarily focused on China, which seeks military parity with the United States in the coming years, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark Milley said during testimony to the House Defense Appropriations Subcommittee on May 27. “It strikes an appropriate balance between preserving present readiness and future modernization, but it is biased toward the future operating environment and readiness,” Milley said. “We are trying right now to put down payments on investments that are going to pay huge dividends 5, 10, 15 years from now for a future force that will be able to compete successfully with any adversary out there, to include China.” The proposal, in fact, more than doubles the 2021 funding for the so-called Pacific Defense Initiative, from $2.2 billion to $5.1 billion which “is meant to directly check Chinese aggression in the Indo-Pacific region by working and training with allies and forward deploying troops and weapons,” reported Stars & Stripes.