Pentagon Budget Stressed by More Than Wars, Experts and Lawmakers Say – CQ Today

Senior members of the House Armed Services Committee expressed grave concerns Wednesday at a hearing that examined the growing pressures on defense budgets.

Despite the expansion of Pentagon spending since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, the defense budget will have to rise even more to keep pace with increasing costs of military personnel and operations, said representatives of the Congressional Research Service (CRS), the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) and think tanks.

Because Congress may not go along with a boost in defense spending as federal budget deficits increase, weapons spending may have to give, even as the United States faces a widening range of global threats, the analysts said.