Obama Budget to Boost Spending $20.4B
President Barack Obama wants to increase spending on the U.S. military by $20.4 billion in 2010, but he's also calling for a crackdown on the Pentagon's profligate procurement system.
The Obama administration is expected to announce the DoD 10-year spending plan. (JIM WATSON / AGENCE-FRANCE PRESSE)
The president unveiled a federal budget for 2010 that would increase defense spending to $533.7 billion. This year the military is receiving $513.3. The difference is a 4 percent increase, the White House said Feb. 26.
The $533.7 billion does not include money for fighting the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, or about $20 billion that is to be spent on nuclear weapons and other military items outside the Defense Department.
Obama wants $130 billion for the wars - down from $144 billion being spent this year.
The three elements combined - the "base" budget, war funding and nuclear weapons - would push 2010 spending to about $683.7 billion. Spending for 2009 is about $681 billion.
In a budget outline, the president emphasized "reforming the costly and inefficient weapon development and acquisition process."
He said the military's "new weapons programs are among the largest, most expensive and technically difficult" ever attempted. "As a consequence, they carry a high risk of performance failure, cost increases and schedule delays."
Obama proposes to change that by setting "realistic requirements" and sticking to them, and by not permitting weapon programs to proceed from one stage to the next until they are mature enough to avoid cost growth and schedule delays.
He called for "continuing to restructure the nation's forces to better address long-term warfare challenges." That includes increasing the size of the Army and Marine Corps.
Money spent on new troops and on giving all uniformed personnel a 2.9 percent pay raise will likely make it harder to continue spending on weapons.
Obama said a pending defense review will be used to evaluate U.S. strategic priorities and "assess how best to achieve them within available resources."
Among the items competing with costly weapons will be programs to prepare for asymmetrical and non-conventional attacks posed by cyber, biological, radiological and nuclear warfare, the outline says.
A complete defense budget is to be released in April. It will provide details on procurement and the fate of major weapon programs.
Help
