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| Obama to Request Hike in U.S. Military Budget |
| 2015-01-29 |
[AnNahar] President Barack ObamaI am the change that you seek... plans to ask for an increase in military spending in a proposed budget for 2016, with a request for $585 billion that would exceed funding caps mandated by Congress, officials said Wednesday. The budget proposal for the Pentagon would provide for a hike in spending on weapons, research and maintenance, which had been scaled back under automatic budget cuts in recent years, officials told AFP. The B.O. regime, which is due to unveil its budget request on Monday, will seek a base defense budget in fiscal year 2016 of $534.3 billion along with $50.9 billion for the wars in Afghanistan and against the Islamic State ...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allaharound with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not reallyMoslems.... group in Iraq and Syria, a defense official said. The request would invest $107.7 billion in weapons programs, an increase of $14.1 billion over the previous year, and provide $69.8 billion for research and development, up $6.3 billion from the last budget, the official said. The spending request would fund a major expansion for the F-35 fighter jet, allowing for the purchase of 57 of the radar-evading aircraft, said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity. The proposed budget would also set aside $209.8 billion for operations and maintenance, an account that absorbed major reductions under the automatic cuts two years ago. But for the boost in military spending to be approved, Congress will have to cut a deal to stave off mandatory budget cuts that would limit defense funding to about $500 billion. The proposed defense budget surpasses those mandatory spending limits by about $35 billion, and would mark a $38 billion increase from military spending this fiscal year. Any military spending beyond caps set under the Budget Control Act will set off across-the-board cuts that do not take into account strategic priorities. When the automatic cuts were triggered in 2013, the Pentagon had to place some employees on unpaid leave while slashing funding for maintenance and training. Top commanders on Wednesday renewed warnings to politicians that a repeat of the automatic cuts, known as sequestration, would result in a "hollow force" and have a damaging effect on readiness, modernization plans and morale. To offset spending increases, the Pentagon budget calls for saving money by increasing some fees for the military's health care service while slowing the growth of housing allowances and other benefits, officials said. The administration's budget request, with its proposed boost for the military, could put Republicans in Congress in a difficult position, analysts say. With a majority in both the House and the Senate, most Republican politicians are sympathetic to increasing the defense budget. But to make that happen, they would have to dismantle the mandatory budget limits, potentially opening the way to spending increases on domestic programs -- something they fiercely oppose. |
| Posted by:trailing wife |
| #17 As per #5, you gotta love Babes in Red. |
| Posted by: JosephMendiola 2015-01-29 22:05 |
| #16 Mehhh, I prefer the way STAR WARS' PREQUEL, CONCILLOR-N-FUTURE-EMPEROR-TO-BE PALPATINE said it, "I propose to create a Grand Army of the [Galactic] Republic". Asia-Pacific or East Asia-Pacific is now the OWG SSSHHH ...PCCCCCC "Global Commons". Which, of course, directly means or infers that future World#1 Wannabe, "Mahanist", OWG Co-Superpower Rising China M-U-S-T get control of 1/2 of the Pacific aka WESTPAC ASAP AMAP ALAP by 2020 NLT 2025, which in trun again inversely means the MSM-Net, Pert-verified "Weak/Declining" USA M-U-S-T surrender like Vichy France + unilaterally PCorrectly-Deniably fall back to Hawaii + US West Coast aka EASTPAC. AND HOPE NONE OF THE ABOVE IS MIS-INTERPRETED AS DE FACTO STRATEGIC WEAKNESS ON THE PART OF GLOBALIST AMERIKA BY MILPOL RIVALS, NUKULAAR NATIONS + NUKULAAR NGOS, ETAL. The US = US-Allies is helping Iran + Muslim World to Nuclearize, so why not to pretend the US was "forced" to give up power-n-influence = "spheres of influence" to protagonists??? |
| Posted by: JosephMendiola 2015-01-29 22:03 |
| #15 Lets hope it's this, or some other internal politics reason, rather than Obama deciding that he's a great war leader. Well he did personally lead Seal Team Six when it took out Osama. Or at least he's convinced himself he did and that's all that's important. |
| Posted by: CrazyFool 2015-01-29 21:15 |
| #14 Republicans should make sure that all funding for military operations flows through a primary account dedicated to funding A-10 close air support aircraft operations, and under the disbursement control of Infantry Branch, US Army. |
| Posted by: Lone Ranger 2015-01-29 21:11 |
| #13 He wants to break the sequester. Lets hope it's this, or some other internal politics reason, rather than Obama deciding that he's a great war leader. |
| Posted by: g(r)omgoru 2015-01-29 17:22 |
| #12 He wants to break the sequester. The only possible answer is to require him to cut discretionary spending by an equal amount, letting him be the bad guy. His strategists think the Republicans will do the work for him, earning the ire of whichever group loses by it -- don't let him play that game. Or ignore him completely, pass a responsible, deficit-reducing budget in both houses, and force him to veto it. Ditto with various funding bills, while defunding his executive decisions. Repeatedly. |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2015-01-29 16:48 |
| #11 Of course, this WILL require an increase in taxes. New revenue to be spent on "defense". |
| Posted by: Deacon Blues 2015-01-29 15:19 |
| #10 "If you like your Defense budget, you can keep your defense budget. Just fully fund my EO DHS $ for amnesty, my DOJ, and my IRS" |
| Posted by: Frank G 2015-01-29 14:43 |
| #9 Dumb ass. You cut defense to shit and then ask for more money. Pull out of Iraq, send troops back to Iraq. |
| Posted by: newc 2015-01-29 12:15 |
| #8 Top commanders on Wednesday renewed warnings to politicians that a repeat of the automatic cuts, known as sequestration, would result in a "hollow force" and have a damaging effect on readiness, modernization plans and morale. "Hollow force" has already started. |
| Posted by: Pappy 2015-01-29 12:02 |
| #7 Nice hat trick. He cuts the military budget, scores support from his leftie fascists. Then goes back and demands an increase in spending for DOD, keeping the right wing at bay. Guess you can have it both ways. He needs to open a used car lot. |
| Posted by: 49 Pan 2015-01-29 11:54 |
| #6 They the money to need to clothe the American military in pink tutus and ballerina slippers. They also need to train our soldiers how to grovel and apologize for being so ... American. |
| Posted by: frozen al 2015-01-29 10:47 |
| #5 And a few more Atlas launches with Russian motors thrown Lockmarts way that were being pretend held for SpaceX to compete on. |
| Posted by: 3dc 2015-01-29 10:43 |
| #4 Also massive new funds to ULA LockMart and Boeing to make up for the pain and agony of SpaceX attempting to point out their sweet monopolist deal with the Air Force. |
| Posted by: 3dc 2015-01-29 10:38 |
| #3 Apparently, the operational time of Air Force One is going to become very high for the next couple of years. |
| Posted by: Procopius2k 2015-01-29 10:34 |
| #2 And don't forget the cost of advising Iran on their nuclear weapons program. |
| Posted by: Rambler in Virginia 2015-01-29 10:06 |
| #1 "The funding increase will promote prime initiatives to heighten cultural sensitivities, train our troops in the inherent peaceful nature of Islam, and provide weapons and training to our new ally, Cuba" |
| Posted by: Frank G 2015-01-29 09:58 |