Pentagon’s Budget Will Seek Big Increases for Weapons Buying and R&D
- Total to exceed $835 billion, up from the current $816 billion
- Officials call it one of the largest peacetime defense budgets
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The spending plan President Joe Biden will propose Thursday includes what officials say is one of the nation’s largest peacetime defense budgets, with $170 billion for weapons procurement and $145 billion for research and development, both recent records.
The Defense Department “top line” for the year that begins Oct. 1 will exceed $835 billion, up from the $816 billion that Congress appropriated in the current fiscal year, according to one of the officials, who asked not to be identified discussing the budget before it’s formally sent to Congress. A spokesperson for the White House’s Office of Management and Budget declined to comment on the numbers.