Bidens Budget Falls Short

biden's proposed 2023 defense budget falls short

Topline points:

President Biden’s budget request is built around a dream world where America is safer today than it was decades ago. The reality is our threats are greater than ever before, yet Biden’s budget request won’t meet any of them.
The budget calls for an increase of 4 percent that doesn’t even come close to keeping pace with today’s 8 percent inflation. That means Biden wants a four percent cut to the Pentagon’s buying power over the level just funded by Congress. We must not defund the military now.
The Chinese Communist Party understands the reality of our rivalry—that’s why they’ve increased their defense budget by over 7 percent, they’re building ships faster than us, and they’re expanding their nuclear capabilities at a rapid pace.
Neither China, Russia, Iran, nor North Korea show any signs of slowing their aggressive behavior, and this proposed budget would give our military less to counter them.

Falling Behind

The U.S. Navy would receive $8 billion above its current level, equating to just about a 5.5 percent raise, which is still below inflation and equivalent to a 2.5% cut.
Worse, Biden proposed that the Navy will retire 24 ships this year, and only allocated funding to build to build 8 new ships. China already has a larger Navy than us, and this insufficient budget gives us a far SMALLER Navy over the next five
Even Democrats recognizes this makes no sense. As Representative Luria tweeted: The Navy owes a public apology to American taxpayers for wasting billions of dollars on ships they now say serve no purpose.
Biden is not able to explain how this shrinking fleet could ever help deter China and safeguard America’s interests.
Biden wants to cut the U.S. Army by 12,000 soldiers at the same time Putin just launched the largest land invasion since World War II.
The Air Force previously requested 48 new F-35’s in last year’s budget. Biden’s new budget only funds 33. This further debilitates our Air Force, which “is now the smallest, oldest, and least ready it has ever been in its 75-year history,” according to the Air Force Association.

Afraid to Call our Enemies Out

The FY2023 budget submission is particularly vague in dealing with China. The document does not mention China by name, and its list of “Indo-Pacific Investments” does not clearly address any of the concerns White House raised in the Biden administration’s new Indo-Pacific strategy.
This budget reflects the worst tendencies of bureaucratic inertia: refusing to evolve and adapt to meet the threat posed by our various enemies around the world.

Congress must reject Biden’s proposal and fund a defense budget grounded in reality:

China is our greatest threat, and our military must maintain its advantages over them. Our Navy must build more ships, not cut them. Our Air Force must have the money for munitions, aircraft, and training hours.
Our nuclear arsenal is outdated, we can’t even build new nuclear weapons. Our arsenal must modernize to reflect the growing nuclear threats from Russia and China.
Inflation is at historic highs, hurting every servicemember who has to support their family and put food on the table. Our troops cannot afford a pay cut.