Real growth in Defense spending nearly over, secretary warns
Fiscal 2009 proposal could become the largest department budget ever.
Defense Secretary Robert Gates expressed concerns Wednesday that he is leaving the next administration with projected decreases in defense spending after years of historic growth in the Pentagon's budget.
On Monday, President Bush requested $515.4 billion for the Defense Department for fiscal 2009, marking a 5.5 percent increase over fiscal 2008 and nearly a 74 percent increase in defense spending during the course of his administration.
"There is no question it is a huge amount of money," Gates told the House Armed Services Committee Wednesday afternoon.
On top of the base budget, the administration wants $70 billion for military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan -- a figure that could grow to $170 billion, Gates estimated earlier in the day. Gates also said he had "no confidence" in that figure. Combined with the war funding, the fiscal 2009 budget could become the largest defense budget, in real terms, since the end of World War II.
Gates, widely perceived on Capitol Hill to be more upfront and candid than his predecessor, Donald Rumsfeld, warned that real growth in the Defense Department's base budget would soon plateau.
"I think we need to leave [the next administration] a budget that we have put together that sets some markers in terms of what needs to be done," Gates said. "Going forward, we should not leave the next administration a budget that has negative growth in the Defense Department and I think we're going to have to address some of those issues."
Several analysts and lawmakers have criticized the fiscal 2009 budget request for putting off difficult decisions on military spending until a new administration takes over next year. Questions abound about the affordability and the future of the military's bulging arsenal of current and planned weapons systems, such as the Army's $160 billion Future Combat Systems, amid rising domestic costs and a growing budget deficit.
Indeed, the Pentagon's latest long-term funding plans cut defense spending by about 1.5 percent between fiscal 2010 and fiscal 2013, according to an analysis released this week by the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments.
"Whether the current buildup will, in fact, soon end will depend on the decisions of the next administration and Congress," the analysis states. "Given the need to address the long-term problem of increasing federal deficits -- driven largely by the retirement of the baby boomer generation and, especially, continued growth in healthcare costs -- there is good reason to believe that a future administration and Congress will, indeed, move in this direction." House Armed Services ranking member Duncan Hunter, R-Calif., and other committee Republicans had called for significantly larger annual defense budgets to ensure the military has the training and equipment it needs to combat a wide range of potential threats.
Hunter has long warned about China's growing military investment, argued that the Air Force and Navy each need an additional $20 billion annually.
Shortly before the hearing, Hunter told reporters that he was concerned that because of the current focus on Iraq and Afghanistan, "the rise of China as a military power is not taken into consideration."
Hunter said he would like to see more funding to address the threat of China's rapid growth in submarines, in modern fighters and in space capabilities. "I would like to see a response to that challenge," he said.
He said, for example, that he was more interested in increased capability for long-range strike, such as a new bomber, than in more F-22 Raptor fighter jets being fielded by the Air Force.