The Pentagon’s fiscal 2023 budget will soon be unveiled. (AFP/Getty Images)
WASHINGTON: President Joe Biden’s fiscal 2023 budget will hit the streets on March 28, and it’s looking to be a record-breaking year for defense spending.
The release date was first reported by Bloomberg earlier today, citing a senior administration official.
The FY23 defense budget is expected to be largest ever requested, with a topline budget for the Defense Department sitting somewhere between $770 billion and $780 billion, Breaking Defense reported in February. Meanwhile, national security spending — which includes the Defense Department, defense-related spending from the Department of Homeland Security and Department of Energy funds associated with nuclear weapons — could come in at $800 billion to $810 billion.
But despite the good news for the defense industry in terms of funding, the five-year trajectory of defense spending could be unclear for weeks after the budget’s release. Several sources tell Breaking Defense that the Pentagon won’t release the justification documents — colloquially known as the “J Books,” which include detailed information about programs and future year spending plans — until mid-April.
A budget of even $770 billion would be a significant increase when compared to the $728.5 billion enacted in law for the Defense Department in FY22 — itself a growth from the $715 billion requested by the Biden administration for that year.
In addition, it’s possible that the FY23 budget numbers could grow even larger than initial projections due to the ongoing conflict between Russia and Ukraine, as the United States devotes billions to security assistance to Ukraine and beefs up the US military presence in Eastern Europe.
Earlier this month, House Armed Services Committee Chairman Adam Smith, D-Wash., said that he expects that the FY23 budget request will be “bigger than we thought,” as the situation in Ukraine had prompted the need for additional spending.
Smith added that the FY23 budget “probably the most impactful and important budget that we’ve seen in the 25 years I’ve been in Congress.”
A week later, Pentagon Comptroller Mike McCord told attendees at the McAleese and Associates conference that defense spending was likely to expand at a “similar vector impact” as European allies such as Germany.
