Pentagon budget set to shrink next year
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China.org.cn, January 27, 2012
The Pentagon released a budget blueprint Thursday that cuts projected military spending by nearly half a trillion dollars, yet still calls for increasing the base defense budget in all but one of the next five years, Los Angeles Times reported.
Under the proposal, the administration will reduce the size of the Army and Marine Corps, trim the number of fighter aircraft and ships, and seek congressional approval for another round of military base closures.
The administration will instead spend more on unmanned vehicles and Special Operations Forces that can be deployed quickly and that will not require large, expensive bases. The military will also largely preserve its manpower and weapons systems geared toward the Middle East.
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U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta |
U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta told reporters at the Pentagon Thursday that the administration will request a 2013 defense budget of US$525 billion. That is US$6 billion less than the request for the current fiscal year, which ends September 30.
Panetta said the plan is to increase the Pentagon budget to US$567 billion by 2017.
Panetta acknowledged that so-called spending cuts are only reductions in projected growth, not actual cuts in current spending. Nonetheless, he called the budget plan "tough" and "real" and said "it's something that obviously will cause some pain."
The announcement marks the start of this year's annual budget debate. The White House is expected to send its national budget plan to Congress in mid-February.
Many analysts say that the chances of that happening are small, and that Obama and Congress are likely to work out a compromise ahead of time. But even if they do, many believe the Pentagon is in for more pain as lawmakers search for a long-term solution to the nation’s fiscal troubles.
“In terms of the overall federal budget, these changes are a rounding error,” Thomas Donnelly, a defense analyst at the American Enterprise Institute, said of Obama’s Pentagon budget for next year.
Donnelly said the Pentagon’s fiscal future will depend on the outcome of the presidential election in November. “Either it will get worse for the Department of Defense if Obama gets re-elected or Newt Gingrich gets elected, or it will get better for the Pentagon if Mitt Romney gets elected.”
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