Military budget of the United States
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The military budget is that portion of the United States discretionary federal budget that is allocated to the Department of Defense. This military budget pays the salaries, training, and healthcare of uniformed and civilian personnel, maintains arms, equipment and facilities, funds operations, and develops and buys new equipment. The budget funds all branches of the U.S. military: Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps, and Coast Guard.
For the 2009 fiscal year, the base budget rose to US$515.4 billion. Adding emergency discretionary spending and supplemental spending brings the sum to US$651.2 billion.[1] This does not include many military-related items that are outside of the Defense Department budget, such as nuclear weapons research, maintenance and production (about $9.3 billion, which is in the Department of Energy budget), Veterans Affairs (about $33.2 billion), interest on debt incurred in past wars, or the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan (which are largely funded through extra-budgetary supplements, about $170 billion in 2007). As of 2009, the United States government is spending about $1 trillion annually on defense-related purposes. [2]
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[edit] Budget for 2009
[edit] By title
The federally budgeted (see below) military expenditure of the United States Department of Defense for fiscal year 2009 is[1]:
| Components | Funding | Change From FY08 |
| Operations and maintenance | $179.8 Bil. | +9.5% |
| Military Personnel | $125.2 Bil. | +7.5% |
| Procurement | $104.2 Bil. | +5.3% |
| Research, Development, Testing & Evaluation | $79.6 Bil. | +4.1% |
| Military Construction | $21.2 Bil. | +19.1% |
| Family Housing | $3.2 Bil. | +10.3% |
| Resolving and Management Funds | $2.2 Bil. | -18.5% |
| Total Base Spending | $515.4 Bil. | +5.7% |
Not included in the DoD budget is $23.4 billion to be spent by the Department of Energy to develop and maintain nuclear warheads.[3]
[edit] By service
| Service | 2007 Budget request | Percentage of Total |
| Army | $110.3 Bil. | 25.1% |
| Navy/Marine Corps | $127.1 Bil. | 28.8% |
| Air Force | $130.2 Bil. | 29.5% |
| Defense Wide | $73.4 Bil. | 16.6% |
[edit] Programs spending more than $1 billion
The $84.1 billion procurement budget includes several programs with 2008 allocations of more than $1 billion.
| Program | 2008 Budget request[4] | Change, 2007 to 2008 |
| Missile Defense | $8.8 Bil. | -6.2% |
| F-35 Joint Strike Fighter | $6.1 Bil. | +23.0% |
| F-22 Raptor | $4.6 Bil. | +15.0% |
| Future Combat System | $3.7 Bil. | +8.1% |
| DDG 1000 Destroyer | $3.5 Bil. | +2.7% |
| Carrier Replacement Program | $3.1 Bil. | +117.7% |
| F/A-18E/F Hornet | $2.6 Bil. | -13.5% |
| Virginia class submarine | $2.7 Bil. | -1.1% |
| V-22 Osprey | $2.6 Bil. | +23.9% |
| MH-60R/S | $1.6 Bil. | +3.9% |
| C-130 | $1.6 Bil. | +7.3% |
| Chemical Demilitarization | $1.5 Bil. | +16.6% |
| San Antonio class amphibious transport dock | $1.4 Bil. | +263.5% |
| Littoral combat ship | $1.2 Bil. | +30.4% |
| Stryker | $1.2 Bil. | +29.6% |
| Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle | $1.2 Bil. | +33.8% |
| Space-Based Infrared System | $1.1 Bil. | +59.9% |
| EA-18G Growler | $1.6 Bil. | +56.4% |
[edit] Military budget and total US federal spending
Military discretionary spending accounts for more than half of the U.S. federal discretionary spending, which is all of the U.S. federal government budget that is not appropriated for mandatory spending.[5]
Because the U.S. GDP has risen over time, the military budget can rise in absolute terms while shrinking as a percentage of the GDP. For example, according to the Center for Defense Information, the US outlays for defense as a percentage of federal discretionary spending, has from Fiscal Year 2003 consumed more than half (50.5%) of all such funding and has risen steadily.[6] Discretionary spending accounts for approximately 1/3 of all federal outlays.[7] Therefore, comparing nominal dollar values of military spending over the course of decades fails to account for the impact of inflationary forces, for which military spending as a percentage of GDP does account.
The recent invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan are largely funded through supplementary spending bills outside the Federal Budget, so they are not included in the military budget figures listed above.[8] In addition, the United States has black budget military spending which is not listed as Federal spending and is not included in published military spending figures. Other military-related items, like maintenance of the nuclear arsenal and the money spent by the Veterans Affairs Department, are not included in the official budget. Thus, the total amount spent by the United States on military spending is higher.
[edit] Comparison with other countries
The 2005 U.S. military budget is almost as much as the rest of the world's defense spending combined [9] and is over eight times larger than the official military budget of China (compared at the nominal US dollar / Renminbi rate, not the PPP rate). The United States and its close allies are responsible for about two-thirds of the world's military spending (of which, in turn, the U.S. is responsible for the majority). In 2007, US military spending was above 1/4 of combined industrial and agricultural production in the USA.
In 2003, the United States spent about 47% of the world's total military spending of US$910.6 billion, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute.
The United States spends 4.06% of its GDP on its military (considering only basic Department of Defense budget spending, while complete military spending is higher by more than 50% due to additional DoD funding and funding of other federal military departments), more than France's 2.6% and less than Saudi Arabia's 10%.[10] This is historically low for the United States since it peaked in 1944 at 37.8% of GDP (it reached the lowest point of 3.0% in 1999-2001). Even during the peak of the Vietnam War the percentage reached a high of 9.4% in 1968.[11]
[edit] Commentary on military budget
During FY 2008, the U.S. government spent nearly $800 billion on defense and homeland security, approximately 30% of tax collections.[12]
- Department of Defense: $741 billion
- Homeland Security: $54 billion
In February 2009, Congressman Barney Frank, D-Mass., called for a reduction in the defense budget: "The math is compelling: if we do not make reductions approximating 25 percent of the military budget starting fairly soon, it will be impossible to continue to fund an adequate level of domestic activity even with a repeal of Bush's tax cuts for the very wealthy. I am working with a variety of thoughtful analysts to show how we can make very substantial cuts in the military budget without in any way diminishing the security we need...[American] well-being is far more endangered by a proposal for substantial reductions in Medicare, Social Security or other important domestic areas than it would be by canceling weapons systems that have no justification from any threat we are likely to face."[13]
Republican historian Robert Kagan has argued that 2009 is not the time to cut defense spending, relating such spending to jobs and support for allies: "A reduction in defense spending this year would unnerve American allies and undercut efforts to gain greater cooperation. There is already a sense around the world...that the United States is in terminal decline. Many fear that the economic crisis will cause the United States to pull back from overseas commitments. The announcement of a defense cutback would be taken by the world as evidence that the American retreat has begun."[14]
U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates wrote in January 2009 that the U.S. should adjust its priorities and spending to address the changing nature of threats in the world: "What all these potential adversaries -- from terrorist cells to rogue nations to rising powers -- have in common is that they have learned that it is unwise to confront the United States directly on conventional military terms. The United States cannot take its current dominance for granted and needs to invest in the programs, platforms, and personnel that will ensure that dominance's persistence. But it is also important to keep some perspective. As much as the U.S. Navy has shrunk since the end of the Cold War, for example, in terms of tonnage, its battle fleet is still larger than the next 13 navies combined -- and 11 of those 13 navies are U.S. allies or partners."[15] Secretary Gates announced some of his budget recommendations in April 2009.[16]
[edit] See also
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Wikinews has related news: Global annual military spending tops $1.2 trillion |
- Foreign policy of the United States
- United States and state terrorism
- Overseas expansion of the United States
- Overseas interventions of the United States
- List of United States military history events
- List of United States military bases
- List of countries and federations by military expenditures
- List of countries by size of armed forces
[edit] References
- ^ a b http://www.gpoaccess.gov/usbudget/fy09/pdf/budget/defense.pdf
- ^ Robert Higgs. "The Trillion-Dollar Defense Budget Is Already Here". http://www.independent.org/newsroom/article.asp?id=1941. Retrieved on March 15 2007.
- ^ http://www.armscontrolcenter.org/archives/002238.php
- ^ Department of Defense: 2006-2008 Program Acquisition Costs by Weapon System
- ^ "Table 27-1. Budget Authority by Function, Category and Program". http://www.gpoaccess.gov/usbudget/fy08/sheets/27_1.xls.
- ^ "Fiscal Year 2002 Budget". Center for Defense Information. http://www.cdi.org/issues/budget/fy'02/. Retrieved on 2006-07-13.
- ^ Congressional Appropriations: An Updated Analysis
- ^ David Isenberg, Budgeting for Empire: The effect of Iraq and Afghanistan on Military Forces, Budgets and Plans
- ^ "World Military Spending". Global Issues That Affect Everyone. 2006-03-27. http://www.globalissues.org/Geopolitics/ArmsTrade/Spending.asp. Retrieved on 2006-07-13.
- ^ CIA World Factbook. "Rank Order - Military expenditures percent of GDP". https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/rankorder/2034rank.html. Retrieved on 2006-05-26.
- ^ "Relative Size of US Military Spending from 1940 to 2003". TruthAndPolitics.org. http://www.truthandpolitics.org/military-relative-size.php.
- ^ GAO-2008 Report Page 35
- ^ Barney Frank - The Nation
- ^ Robert Kagan - Washington Post
- ^ Gates-A Balanced Strategy
- ^ Slate-Gates Follows Through
[edit] External links
- "Office of the Under Secretary of Defense (Comptroller)" Annual Department of Defense budget materials.
- "MilitaryBudget.info" Information and news about the defense budget.
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