House GOP Budget Plan Would Derail $630 Billion in Planned Defense Projects, Pentagon Leaders Say

Gen. Mark Milley (L), Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin called on Congress to "do its job" and pass a budget during their appearance before the Senate Appropriations Committee's Defense Subcommittee in Washington on May 11, 2023.. Tasos Katopodis/Getty Images

Dialing spending back to Fiscal Year 2022 levels would cost the Department of Defense (DOD) at least $100 billion next year and set back weapons procurement by more than $630 billion over the next five years, the Pentagon’s chief number-cruncher told a Senate panel on May 11.

But the 14 percent slash in the military’s $842 billion Fiscal Year 2024 (FY24) budget request that would be enacted under such a “FY22 plus 1 percent” plan calculated by DOD Chief Financial Officer Michael McCord doesn’t capture the costs of fiscal uncertainty on national security, Pentagon officials insist.