A White House official told The New York Times that President Donald Trump will ask for an increase of $54 billion in military spending in the next federal budget – an increase of 10 percent, but far from what some experts say is needed to rebuild the military, which Trump has vowed to do.
The Times also reported that Trump will be cutting federal funding in other areas, including foreign aid and the Environmental Protection Agency.
“In remarks to the nation’s governors during a White House meeting, the president said he would propose a ‘public safety and national security’ budget for the coming fiscal year that prioritizes the military and other public safety requirements,” the Times reported.
“This budget follows through on my promise to keep Americans safe,” Trump said. “It will include an historic increase in defense spending to rebuild the depleted military of the United States.”
“He added that the budget would send a ‘message to the world in these dangerous times of American strength, security and resolve,’” the Times reported. “[Trump] said that the increases in military spending were required to ensure that the United States emerges victorious when it engages in wars with adversaries around the globe.”
“We have to start winning wars again — when I was young, in high school and college, people used to say we never lost a war,” the President told the governors. “We need to win or don’t fight it all. It’s a mess like you have never seen before.”
“A senior budget official told reporters that most federal agencies would experience a reduction as a result of the increases in military spending. The official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said foreign aid would face a significant decrease,” the Times reported.
Last month, Breitbart News reported that Bob Work, deputy secretary of defense, said the military would need much more money to make a significant difference in its constitution and readiness.
“Speaking on Jan. 9 at the Future Strategy Forum at the United States Navy Memorial, Work warned that even as much as $88 billion in additional funding would only be enough to fill the ‘holes’ in the struggling budget rather than grow the military fleet as incoming president Trump has vowed to do.
“That doesn’t buy you an extra ship, that doesn’t buy you an extra airplane, that doesn’t buy you an extra soldier or sailor or airman or Marine,” Work acknowledged, referring to the $88 billion in additional funding. “That just gets you where you need to be, fills in the hole.”
“Work suggested that the U.S. requires spending around ‘$107 billion’ more above the Budget Control Act (BCA), also known as sequestration, over five years, assuming that the Republican Congress delivers in lifting the caps. That amounts to nearly $21 billion annually over sequestration limits,” Breitbart reported.
According to data from Omic International, the military of the United States is deployed in more than 150 countries around the world, with over 160,000 of its active-duty personnel serving outside the United States and its territories and an additional 70,000 deployed in various contingency operations.
U.S. troops are spread across the globe: approximately 66,000 are stationed in Europe; approximately 80,000 in East Asia and the Pacific region, over 5,000 in North Africa, Southwestern and South Asia; over 1,700 in the Americas; less than 400 in Sub-Saharan Africa; and less than 100 in states of the former Soviet Union.
U.S. troops are presently involved in combat in Afghanistan, according to Omic International.
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