U.S. President Joe Biden submitted a defense budget plan for fiscal year 2025 (October this year to September 2025) worth $895 billion (approximately 1,174 trillion won) to Congress on the 11th (local time). This is a 1% increase from last year, and is actually a reduction considering the inflation rate. While China is significantly expanding its defense budget amid an economic slowdown, there are also observations that the U.S. defense budget may be taking a backseat due to political conflict, leading to greater demands from the U.S. for increased defense spending from its allies. China’s defense budget this year is 1.67 trillion yuan (about 309 trillion won), a 7.2% increase from the previous year.
On this day, the White House sent next year’s entire budget plan of $7.3 trillion (approximately 9,600 trillion won), including the defense budget of $895 billion, to Congress. After seeing this, the relevant standing committees of the Senate and House of Representatives discuss and present their own budget bill, which is then finally passed through a vote in the plenary session and agreement between the Senate and the House of Representatives.
The Biden administration agreed to minimize budget increases last year during negotiations with the opposition Republican Party to increase the debt limit to prevent a federal government default. In this process, the defense budget was reduced by approximately $30 billion from the original amount requested by the Biden administration.
As a result, it is reported that the U.S. Department of Defense will reduce the budget for the F-35 fighter jet and the Virginia-class nuclear-powered submarine. The budget for next-generation interceptor missiles (NGI) to defend against North Korea’s intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) will also be reduced from $3.2 billion this year to $2.7 billion next year.
However, the Indo-Pacific defense budget was expanded to keep China in check, including allocating $9.9 billion, $800 million more than last year, to the Pacific Deterrence Initiative (PDI). The $500 million Presidential Use Authorization (PDA) budget, which allows the provision of US weapons to Taiwan without congressional approval, was also included in the federal budget for the first time. In response to the buildup of nuclear weapons by China and Russia, $49.2 billion was earmarked to modernize the three major nuclear forces, including intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs), strategic bombers, and nuclear submarines.
However, it is unclear whether this budget will be passed smoothly in Congress. The 2024 fiscal year defense budget of $886 billion has also not yet been passed due to opposition from some hardliners within the Republican Party, which is the majority party in the House of Representatives. Political media The Hill pointed out, “The U.S. Department of Defense has fallen into a state of budget chaos due to political infighting.”
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Source: Donga
Mark Jones is a world traveler and journalist for News Rebeat. With a curious mind and a love of adventure, Mark brings a unique perspective to the latest global events and provides in-depth and thought-provoking coverage of the world at large.