Staff Reports
In a shocking turn of events, Defense spending has plummeted under President Joe Biden’s administration, reaching pre-World War II levels and even falling below the “peace dividend” days during Bill Clinton’s presidency. According to a recent budget analysis, the nation is only allocating a measly 3.6% of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) – a mere $866 billion – for defense, despite being involved in various military conflicts, particularly in Ukraine, Israel, and the Red Sea, and gearing up for potential aggression from China towards Taiwan.
A report from Princeton Policy Advisors, a reputable outfit specializing in federal spending analysis, highlighted that the proposed defense budget for fiscal year 2024 would only marginally raise spending as a share of the GDP. The report emphasized that defense spending in 2024 would be a smaller share of the GDP than before the Ukraine war. President Steven Kopits’s alarming report concludes that the Biden administration’s budget will only marginally increase defense spending to 3.8% of the GDP, which is disturbingly low given the current global security challenges.
Biden ignoring Pentagon, defense spending at pre-World War II levels
Steven Kopits/Princeton Policy Advisors: 'Defense has been pathetically neglected under the Biden administration'https://t.co/LSH719onLO via @dcexaminer pic.twitter.com/goNfrqkoha
— Paul Bedard (@SecretsBedard) January 11, 2024
Kopits emphasized the perilous state of global security and decried the irresponsibly low levels of defense spending under the Biden administration. He slammed the notion that the U.S. cannot afford to fund the war against Russia and criticized the neglect of defense spending, asserting that it is more of a mockery than a commitment to national security.
President Biden’s priorities of climate change, diversity, and domestic projects have taken center stage, with critics noting a lack of focus on the Pentagon. The recent scandal involving Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin’s covert stay at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center has only amplified concerns about the administration’s disregard for defense matters.
Kopits also lambasted Congress for not exerting more pressure for increased defense spending and proposed that a robust plan could compel Moscow to cease its aggression in Ukraine. He also criticized the Biden administration and congressional Republicans for seemingly abandoning national security and projecting weakness and indecision rather than a strong stance against adversaries. These criticisms echo concerns raised by other defense experts, such as Loren Thompson of the Lexington Institute, who emphasized that the Pentagon’s budget is inadequate and failing to keep up with the growing threats to the United States.
