Trillion-Dollar Defense Budget ‘Inevitable,’ Pentagon Comptroller Says

The Pentagon’s top budget official, Mike McCord, told defense reporters this morning that a $1 trillion defense budget is “inevitable”:

The comments came as the Defense Department unveiled a budget blueprint for the next fiscal year and as Republicans push for massive military-spending increases. The White House’s request for a $842 billion topline for the coming year increases defense spending by 3.2 percent — which is a cut in real terms, once inflation is taken into account.

While the Pentagon’s budget document from today shows that the military budget will grow to just under $1 trillion by fiscal year 2028, lawmakers will likely try to accelerate that growth. As I reported last year, senators such as Roger Wicker (R., Miss.), conservative defense experts, and former Trump White House officials have previously called for sharp defense-spending increases that would put the budget at well over $1 trillion, citing Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and China’s ongoing military buildup and apparent intent to seize Taiwan:

The timeline according to which McCord sees the budget passing that mark is likely slower than that advocated by GOP defense hawks. But the comments, from a Biden administration official, reflect growing recognition that catching up to inflation — and meeting the threat posed by adversary regimes — will call for defense-spending increases. Whether that should happen sooner or later is the question that Congress will parse in upcoming markup sessions for the annual defense-policy bill.