A new report argues for restructuring the U.S. defense budget over U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin’s belief that its size is critical to staying ahead of China, dealing with Russia and maintaining the responsibilities that come along with America's role as a global leader.
A September report from the Center for Strategic and International Studies said increased or dramatically restructured military spending is necessary to achieve those goals and dismisses criticisms of the size of the budget as failing to grasp the full picture. The CSIS report was authored by Ashley Tellis, the Tata chair for strategic affairs and a senior fellow for the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.
“Our department’s budget will help us continue to defend the nation, take care of our people and succeed through teamwork with our allies and partners," Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin said, according to a March 28 news release. "This budget gives us the resources we need to deliver on that promise. Our budget reflects our National Defense Strategy and the focus of that strategy on the pacing challenge of China.
"It preserves our readiness and deterrent posture against the threats we face today: the acute threat of an aggressive Russia," Austin added, according to the release. "And it absolutely supports our policy of U.S. global leadership of — and responsibility for — our vast network of alliances and partnerships.”
Diplomacy and economic instruments are preferable courses to avoiding conflicts, the CSIS report said, but a dominant military is necessary to back up those measures. It calls for increased or restructured military spending for the U.S. to “restore its military power.” The Biden administration was described as "shy" when it comes to those options.
The CSIS report says the argument about how U.S. military spending is greater than the next nine countries combined fails to recognize the U.S. position as a global leader and its responsibilities in that capacity, or that military spending as a percentage of GDP was much higher during the Cold War. The report added that incrementally increasing military spending now would help deter war with China. In a future war, the U.S. would “certainly blow through the current top line.”
The Congressional Progressive Caucus said the proposal for record military spending is unacceptable after the nation’s longest war ended and with Democratic control of Congress. The Guardian reported CPC chair Pramila Jayapal and former chairs Mark Pocan and Barbara Lee shared that statement.
“At a time when we are already spending more on the military than the next 11 countries combined, no we do not need a massive increase in the defense budget,” Sen. Bernie Sanders, D-Vt., said, according to The Guardian.
In 1960, U.S. military spending as a percent of GDP stood just below 9%, according to World Bank. It dipped to 7.58% in 1965 before spiking to 9.4% in 1967. Military spending declined until 1978 at 4.9% before rising to 6.8% in 1982. It dropped to 3.08% in 1999 before rising again post-9/11 to a peak of 4.9% in 2010. It dropped to 3.31% in 2017 and increased slightly to 3.74% in 2020. In comparison, in 2020, China spent 1.75% of its GDP on its military.
The defense budget in 2021 was 3.3% of the GDP, and in 2022 it was 3.1%, according to Statista, which predicts a decline in U.S. military spending as a share of GDP to 2.7% in 2032.
