$858 Billion for the Pentagon Is Out-of-This-World Wasteful
WASHINGTON, D.C. – The U.S. Senate today passed a compromise version of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) that includes an additional $45 billion increase in the Pentagon’s budget above the $30 billion increase requested by the Biden administration for Fiscal Year 2023, bringing the final authorized Pentagon topline to $858 billion. Robert Weissman, president of Public Citizen, released the following statement:
“$858 billion in Pentagon spending is a moral and political disgrace. This is $45 billion more than the president requested. It is more than the U.S. Department of Defense requested. By way of comparison, the amount of increased Pentagon spending above the president’s request is roughly four times the entirety of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency budget.
“This absurdly inflated Pentagon budget is a huge payout to military contractor corporations at the direct expense of the American people. The money wasted on the Pentagon – an agency that just failed its fifth consecutive audit, at a time when U.S. military spending is already more than the next nine countries combined – siphons funding away from reducing child poverty, expanding health care, addressing the climate crisis, and countless other priorities.
“This spending level is testament to the corporate capture and corruption of the Pentagon budgeting process. It leaves the nation less secure and more unjust. It is an utter, total disgrace.”