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| Congress Just Gave The Weapons Industry A Massive Paycheck. Here's What That Means For US Defense |
| 2022-12-26 |
| [Daily Caller] Congress authorized a massive increase in spending on weapons and ammunition in 2023, signaling a willingness to continue providing defense contractors the funding they need to deliver on future Pentagon orders, experts told the Daily Caller News Foundation. The Department Of Defense (DOD) would receive a 9% boost in defense spending, with some of the largest increases occurring in weapons budgets, in 2023 as part of Congress’ yearly funding bill, which allocates a total of $858 billion for defense. Concern that the U.S. lacks the capacity to both support Ukraine and deter China from attacking Taiwan have intensified as the U.S. continues to send billions in aid to Kyiv, but contractors will have to negotiate production challenges in order to supply what Congress and the White House believe they need, experts explained to the DCNF. "This was not a ’Christmas gift’ in the sense that defense industry pressure or an insider military-industrial complex led to the defense spending increases," Eugene Gholz, a professor at the University of Notre Dame and a former senior Pentagon official, told the DCNF. "Congress has been leaning in this direction for several years, and it is the mood of the Washington consensus right now to throw money at defense."(RELATED: The Pentagon Wants To Regulate Defense Contractors’ Greenhouse Gas Emissions. Experts Say That’s Counterproductive) Since President Joe Biden submitted his initial funding request in March, Congressional appropriators estimated the industry would require an additional $1 billion to meet the same procurement thresholds. The National Defense Authorization Act and follow-on funding bill decreases the size of the U.S. army but adds funding for weapons, setting aside $162.2 billion for the defense industry, or roughly $17.2 billion more than Biden’s request, Inside Defense reported. In addition, $17 billion of the $45 billion emergency financial assistance approved for Ukraine is destined for the defense industry. "It’s not more money for the same stuff. It’s the DOD realizing we haven’t invested enough for years and now we have to catch up," Maiya Clark, a senior research associate at the Heritage Foundation, told the DCNF. |
| Posted by:Besoeker |
| #2 9% boost in defense spending FY2022 inflation was 7.7%. Not much of a boost when the entire west needs to build new weapons factories, esp for arty and mortar ammo. |
| Posted by: Thesing Gurly-Brown8929 2022-12-26 20:29 |
| #1 Ike is shaking his head in heaven. |
| Posted by: Super Hose 2022-12-26 18:06 |