Senate Panel: Air Force Budget Is Not Adequate

Bipartisan critics say budget deal capping federal spending hikes at 1 percent can’t be sustained if Pentagon is to keep pace with China’s military spending.

U.S. Air Force B-1B bomber from Andersen Air Force Base, Guam, lands at Osan Air Base in Pyeongtaek, South Korea, on Sept. 21, 2016. Seo Myung-gon/Yonhap via AP

The Biden administration’s proposed Fiscal Year 2025 (FY25) $895.2 billion defense budget request complies with spending restrictions imposed by 2023’s Fiscal Responsibility Act (FRA), which cap Pentagon spending increases over this year’s budget at 1 percent.

That blanket restriction, however, is unlikely to survive as Senate and House appropriations and defense panels begin reviewing Department of Defense (DOD) budgets, especially with the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) March announcement that it was increasing military spending by 7.2 percent this year.