What congressional funding reveals about America’s military priorities
Members are happy to fund hardware, but reluctant to let the Department of Defence make cuts
Dec 11th 2021
WASHINGTON, DC
ANYONE WHO has observed Congress over the past decade will be familiar with 11th-hour, slapdash policymaking. The National Defence Authorisation Act (NDAA)—the annual defence-policy bill and one of the few routine, bipartisan pieces of legislation—has followed a familiar pattern. After months of delays in which one of the largest budget categories, was pushed to the back burner in favour of other Democratic priorities, the Senate seemed to abandon efforts to pass the $768bn defence bill (which includes $147bn to buy new hardware) for the 2022 fiscal year. Leaders from both parties eventually compromised and the law passed the House this week. Amid the scramble it was easy to overlook what members of Congress think the mammoth defence budget should actually be for. Following the money reveals where lawmakers think America’s defence priorities lie.
From a distance, the budget appears to be guided by a strengthening bipartisan consensus that America must confront China and spend more to do so. Look closer, and disagreements abound. Exactly how the country should compete with its Pacific rival divides both parties. Even as America embarks on a new contest in Asia, lawmakers do not agree with one another, or with President Joe Biden, over how to address other pressing issues, most prominently a revanchist Russia. Nor have they proved capable of either ending the war on terror or voting to continue it.
https://www.economist.com/united-states/2021/12/11/what-congressional-funding-reveals-about-americas-military-priorities
