Pentagon Warns of ‘Crisis’ of Congressional Debate on 2011 Budget

Pentagon Stuck at Record 2010 Levels Instead of Even Bigger 2011 Levels

Though much of the attention toward the Pentagon’s demands for ever larger military budgets has turned to the year 2012 budget, which will be the single largest military budget in the history of mankind, the fighting continues over the 2011 budget.

The 2011 budget, which will be the all time record for a military budget (at least until the 2012 one is passed), is still stalled in Congress, which is faced with a massive deficit and an impatient Pentagon, which has been harping on it for months.

Now the Pentagon is insisting that the situation is officially a “crisis” and that several of their massive new weapons programs will have to be stalled, and training and maintanance will have to be curbed, because the 2011 budget still hasn’t formally passed.

Of course, that is not to say that the Pentagon is not being funded. Indeed, with Congress taking no action on the new budget the military is still being funded at 2010 levels, which is, as of right now, the largest budget for a military ever. It is just that somehow, this record level of funding falls far short of the Pentagon’s demands for new, even bigger records year after year.

Author: Jason Ditz

Jason Ditz is Senior Editor for Antiwar.com. He has 20 years of experience in foreign policy research and his work has appeared in The American Conservative, Responsible Statecraft, Forbes, Toronto Star, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Providence Journal, Washington Times, and the Detroit Free Press.