The chairman of the House defense appropriations subcommittee indicated his belief that the Department of Defense's budget should be increased by Congress.
Rep. Kevin Calvert (R-CA), the chairman of the subcommittee, expressed doubts about the $842 billion request from President Joe Biden, which represents a $26 billion increase from the $816 billion that was enacted in the 2023 budget, during a hearing on Thursday featuring Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, Gen. Mark Milley, the chairman of the Joint Staff, and DOD Comptroller Michael McCord.
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“Obviously I’m concerned about the budget, I made that clear. I think we’re going to work together to plus this up somewhat, to make sure we meet the requirements,” he said, adding that they’ll work across the aisle and with the Senate to “see if we can come up with a number that will meet the needs that protect this country and lead it into the future.”
The Pentagon leaders defended the president's requested budget, which is slightly below $100 billion more than the enacted 2022 defense budget.
"This is a strategy-driven budget and one driven by the seriousness of our strategic competition with the People's Republic of China. This budget will help us continue to implement our 2022 national defense strategy and the president's National Security Strategy," Austin told lawmakers. "And the PRC is our pacing challenge. And we’re driving hard to meet it. Our budget builds on our previous investments to deter aggression by increasing our edge. We’re investing in a more resilient force posture in the Indo-Pacific and increasing the scale and scope of our exercises with our partners."
Congress has been unafraid to bolster Biden's defense budget requests previously. The National Defense Authorization Act appropriated $858 billion for defense spending in fiscal 2023, including $817 billion for the Department of Defense, a $45 billion increase from Biden's request.
While Calvert argued the budget should be increased by Congress, there are small factions within both parties that believe the opposite should happen. Some House Republicans have reportedly discussed reducing fiscal 2024 discretionary spending to fiscal 2022 levels, and McCord detailed the consequences of such a decision in a recent letter to Rosa DeLauro (D-CT), the ranking member on the Appropriations Committee.
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“The Department of Defense is concerned about both the magnitude and the potential method of implementing such reductions, which would have harmful and potentially devastating effects on our people, our mission, and our national interests,” Calvert said. “The Secretary is also troubled by the prospect of the harm such reductions would inflict on our personnel and their families, and on our ability to recruit. Reductions of this magnitude would certainly force severe disruptions to our people, especially because we would still need to fund the pay raises our people deserve and to avoid involuntary separations.”
He's said that he expects the defense budget will eclipse a trillion dollars in the coming years.