Congress on Tuesday night unveiled the 2023 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), worth $858 billion, $45 billion more than what President Biden requested for the military spending bill.
The House is expected to vote on the legislation this week, and it could be brought to the floor as soon as Thursday. Once the House approves the bill, it will be sent to the Senate, then to President Biden’s desk for his signature.
The massive $858 billion bill represents an 8% increase from the 2022 NDAA, which was also larger than what Biden requested. The $858 billion includes $817 billion for the Pentagon, and the remaining funds go toward military spending for other departments.
Notable amendments packed into the NDAA include $10 billion in military aid for Taiwan that will be dispersed over five years. The aid is in the form of Foreign Military Financing, a State Department program that gives foreign governments funds to purchase US-made military equipment.
The NDAA also includes $800 million in the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative, a program that allows the US government to purchase weapons for Ukraine. But the vast majority of spending on the Ukraine war will come through emergency funding, and the White House is hoping Congress approves a new $37.7 billion tranche of Ukraine aid during the lame-duck period.
The NDAA includes $11.5 billion in new investments for the Pacific Deterrence Initiative, a program to build up in the Asia Pacific to confront China. The Pentagon has identified China as its main focus, and the NDAA includes investment in new technology research and development that US military leaders say is meant to counter Beijing.
More like $1 TRILLION. Special ops, etc, are not accounted for and never will be.
Exactly. It’s more than $1 Trillion already.
It’s actually well over $1 Trillion, if you count the Department of Veteran’s Affairs, which attempts, with partial success, at best, to repair the damage done to our service men and women by our brutal foreign policy.
Balanced budget? National debt? Fiscal responsibility?
All of that go down the drain when it comes buying more bombs! Just make the future generations pay for it. And btw weβre not investing in education, infrastructure, technology or anything that would make us actually competitive in the world. Oh and if you get sick? Hope you have insurance or one way trip to bankruptcy town for you.
SURPRISE! (not)
The military budget is a political prop. It is something to campaign about. In reality, the DOD spends what it want to spend, when it wants to spend it, and on whatever it wants to spend it on. The spending is so rampant, opaque, without review, and wide spread that it defies accountability.
First they create the conflicts, then they make the taxpayers to pay for the escalations. I wonder if there is a statistic how much of those money come back to the members of Congress as the net income.
Their generosity is overwhelming. $45 billion more than he asked for?! Preplanning to confront China?! What foreword thinking people! I’m going to call Soc. Sec. today and tell them about this new line of thinking and I’ll ask them for a raise in my monthly payments… I’m certain it will be well received. I’ll help counter China by giving up Chicken Chao Mien…
Better yet, lets contact Social Security and tell them I want all future advances sent to us right now. With a 50% increase.
Donna, I admire your wit and sense of humor
Great app just up, Asteroid Launcher — you can set size, type, angle of descent, and where it hits — my first thought was: shouldn’t there by such an ap for nukes? Then I realized the current Asteroid Launder can’t allow greater than 1 mile diameter size — dinosaur killing comet was about 200 miles. I realized that the scale of spending by our beloved politicians is approaching a similar off-the-charts scale. Something they think we the people will just be idiotically unaware of.
I’ve come to the view since years that a planet killing asteroid would make an appropriate eraser.
Short of that, I’ve seen nothing that might bring a halt the damage being done by the two wings of the war party. Of course, we would have to hope for life to invent something less obnoxious to repopulate what is left.
I was in chat group about a constitution for Mars — all concerns were about physical parameters, etc. Nothing about actual governance, rights, etc. That’s always the hardest part. Re repopulating the earth – Bonobos? but monomanically focused on sex. Def could be worse.
Defense budgets of 2022 and where that increase stands.
1.
United States
$740,500,000,000
2.
China
$178,200,000,000
3.
India
$73,650,000,000
4.
Germany
$57,430,000,000
5.
United Kingdom
$56,042,000,000
6.
Japan
$51,700,000,000
7.
Saudi Arabia
$48,500,000,000
8.
South Korea
$48,000,000,000
9.
France
$47,700,000,000
10.
US
$45,000,000,000
11.
Australia
$42,700,000,000
Thank you Wars r US.
Donna,I could read your comments forever and probably will have to before the American people wake up to how badly they are getting screwed
I keep hoping they wake up. Unfortunately, they keep sleeping in their government arms, hypnotized by a powerful propaganda machine. If they wake up, they only wake up to demand that Assange and other truthtellers to be imprisoned some more.
Russian military budget for 2023 is $84.
Yes, but they’re going to take over Europe.
A bit of Europe they will take. That is sure.
“Defense budgets of 2022 and where that increase stands.”
Correction: “Military budgets of 2022 and where that increase stands.”
We could defend this country quite effectively for 1/10 what we spend on the military. And there would be far fewer and far less ominous threats without our provocations.
Correction again, offense / aggression budget. There’s always a viable excuse to kill people on the far side of the planet.
“Pacific Deterrence Initiative”
– Ever notice that when the DC psychopaths name a piece of legislation, it describes exactly the opposite of what it really is?
“it describes exactly the opposite of what it really is?”
I think the biggest whopper ever in this regard was “The PATRIOT Act.”
The Russian MOD is disarming NATO (Ukraine was disarmed in March), tank by tank, artillery by artillery, air defense by air defense. What they loose in the Ukraine, they loose for the final NATO global war against Russia.
Russia is inflicting a 10:1 kill ratio. According to Ursula von der Leyen over 100,000 Ukrainian officers dead. Probably twice that seriously injured and an estimated 1300 NATO polish officers (mercenaries) killed.
NATO overall has accumulated the following equipment losses;
336 Aircraft, 177 helicopters, 2599 UAV’s, 391 Anti Aircraft systems, 6953 tanks inc. APC’s, 908 multiple rocket launchers, 3648 rocket launchers and 7437 military automotive equipment.
The fact they’re budgeting this money for this purpose is just a distraction. It helps keep the people from recognizing that, from the pResident on down, the so-called “elected officials” are trying their best to bring this country down to third-world status financially, and to a fascist dictatorship legislatively. We, the people, whom they have claimed placed them in these exalted positions, need to drag them out of those positions and try them for treason, and once convicted, punish them to the fullest extent of the law. Rope, gas, electricity, or just a good old-fashioned firing squad would all be acceptable.
Trillions of dollars budgeted for the Department of Offence year-in year-out is not gonna maintain or increase US hegemony in the world. It would have the opposite affect…!
In a word, obscene.
There is no chance that the Defense bill be defeated in Congress. What would happen to the starving Generals and war contractors as well as the bomb makers.They throw the Veterans who kill andwere killed to enhance their profits but when injured troops come home mentally damaged missing legs and arms our Govt does not fund their rehab enough or at all. Instead all of these ex soldiers who made a big mistake fighting the wrong wars at the wrong times hear thanks for your service. Certainly not Show me the Money
It is readily apparent that Biden is determined to eliminate any competitor in the global economy by any means at his disposal. He’s using the war in Ukraine to weaken Russia and also as a justification for a twisted form of fiscal policy that would make Reagan proud. His sanctions are lining the pockets of ππππππππ investors by arbitrarily bankrupting foreign competitors (chosen personally, without due process, and with no provision for court appeal). The European Union, South Korea and Japan are being told to fall on their swords. And there is no excuse too weak to be used to attack specific industries in China.
To suppress retaliation, he needs a military capable of waging war against Russia, China, North Korea, Iran, and any other nation that doesn’t do as it’s told…πππ ππ πππ ππππ ππππ.
Rome fell for a reason. Those who don’t respect history are bound to repeat it.
Do I understand correctly $$10 billion military aid for Taiwan is really a gift to Taiwan to purchase American made military equipment, a laundered $$$ 10 billion gift for the MIC? The congressional millionaires use taxpayers money to fund their investment in the MIC?
We can be sure, so the legislation goes to the floor for what, it is a done deal they will all vote to fund it. Sen. Manchin will not object.
What happened to the sick leave for the rail road workers, the student loans and the increase of the minimum wage??? NOTHING
Why pretend it is a democracy and vote for corrupt politicians, they get paid by the oligarchs they work for, why vote for scum?
That’s the way pretty much all “US military aid” works. For example, supporters of aid to Israel proclaim that “all that money comes back to keep Americans in jobs at defense plants.” And it buys the campaign contributions of those companies, and the votes of those workers. Pretty sweet scam.
A gigantic chemical laundry service and not even an accounting service. Smells like Ukraine on steroids.
Grotesquely ugly scam. Every revelation reveals the level of corruption existent throughtout this increasingly ugly distortion of a democratic republic thanks to the MIC over the past 75 years.
Eisenhower didn’t have to be a rocket scientist to see what was coming, but the public has been hypnotized with all these baubles delivered by modern technology.
Besides, democracy is just too much work.
The patient died years ago, but the savagery of the hyenas continues unabated as they tear away at the rotting flesh.
We now know that Washington used Twitter was a front to skirt the 1st amendment. Elon Musk has supplied the records. Impeach Biden for his many, many crimes against the American people and humanity.
Those idiots who presented the case that corporates can do what ever they like are fascists. We all knew what was going on, these fascists argued in support of war, antiwar my arse.
Useful idiots (Stalin Reference) are just that useful to the empire of war and support fascist wars across the globe.
Merkel confesses that Minsk1 and Minsk2 were lies to buy time for Ukraine to rebuild its forces to attack Russia. Frau Merkel revealed this in her interview with the Zeit newspaper.
Moscow is well aware that NATO was using Ukraine to attack Russia. The Russian people are demanding US blood and a total defeat of NATO. For the Russian people there is no path to peace, they will only accept the total defeat of the Western powers that brought fascism and war.
“The Russia people are demanding US blood and a total defeat of NATO”
Demand in one hand. Sh*t in the other. Note which hand gets full first.
The US NATO alliance is being defeated in Ukraine, and so is US Nazism……..HOOOORRRAAAAHHHHHH.
The Russian MOD is disarming NATO (Ukraine was disarmed in March), tank by tank, artillery by artillery, air defense by air defense. What they loose in the Ukraine, they loose for the final NATO war against Russia. A war the US/NATO is loosing.
NATO overall has accumulated the following equipment losses;
341 Aircraft, 180 helicopters, 2638 UAV’s, 392 Anti Aircraft systems, 7020 tanks inc. APC’s, 913 multiple rocket launchers, 3664 rocket launchers and 7498 military automotive equipment.
You are on the wrong side of history as fascists always are. As in WW2 we have Russia to thank for the destruction of the 3rd Reich. And we now have Russia to thank for the destruction of the US/NATO 4th Reich.
The German people should know better, that they again return to fascism and war in Europe is beyond despicable. Frau Merkel is a total disgrace, arrest her and present her to the Hague.