Joe Biden is set to ask the House to give the Pentagon its largest-ever budget, despite America already blowing past its debt ceiling. In January, the US Treasury triggered emergency measures after the debt limit of $31.4 trillion was reached. Now, the Defence Department’s chief financial officer said officials are “very close” to sitting out their final number they will ask Congress to authorise.
The topline number for the Defence Department will then be included by the White House for its 2024 budget.
Pentagon Comptroller Michael McCord said in an interview that he does “expect it will be a bigger number than Congress provided last year”.
In December, lawmakers pencilled in a massive $858 billion in national defence funding — $45 billion more than Biden sought – which included $817 billion for the Pentagon.
It already marked the US’s largest ever spend on the Defence Department, but its budget inclusion comes as Biden and House GOP members spar over raising the debt limit.
Republicans have not yet set out their red-line demands from Biden in order to raise the ceiling, but some have floated slashing spending on defence despite the party’s history.
House Speaker Kevin McCarthy has voiced support for capping defence spending at fiscal 2022 levels, but reverting to last year’s budget levels would amount to a nearly $75 billion cut across the board for the Pentagon
McCord told Politico: “You are going to have to face the harder question of what is it that you want to do less?
“Do you want to have fewer people? Do you want to have fewer ships? Fewer airplanes? Smaller pay raises? That’s where the money is in the defence budget.”
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It comes after an expert told Express US that the Republican party has “no choice” but to hold the debt ceiling hostage against Biden
Jeff Webb, Publisher of Human Events and the Post Millennial, said: ”Sadly, Biden’s level of fiscal irresponsibility, and his march toward driving our country into the kind of debt that will affect the quality of life for our children and grandchildren, has left the Republicans no choice when it comes to the debt ceiling.
“Biden and the Democrats obviously either don’t take the problem seriously, are not smart enough to understand what the negative long-term effects will be, or they are intentionally trying to drive the country into bankruptcy to create the kind of scenario that requires excessive and heavy-handed government intervention.
“Unfortunately, the only political lever the Republicans have at the moment that they can use to try and get some movement in the right direction is to refuse to increase the debt.
“Biden does the citizens of our country a disservice by digging in through political theatrics, which he thinks will help his image, but in actuality, it’s very harmful to the country.”
