President Obama’s budget proposes a sharp increase in entitlement spending and more outlays for domestic programs and interest on the national debt. Defense spending, meanwhile, takes a backseat to Obama’s other priorities.
The long-term outlook: Obama would make defense the lowest budget priority among the major categories of spending in the federal budget.
“The combination of the budget request and the Budget Control Act of 2011 would reduce the military’s personnel levels and force structure to the point that they could no longer protect U.S. vital interests and keep U.S. security commitments around the world,” Heritage’s Baker Spring wrote last week.
Heritage’s analysis of Obama’s budget reveals that by 2018, the United States would spend more on debt interest than protecting the country.
Obama has blamed defense spending for the federal deficit. But according to Spring’s research, that’s an incorrect assessment. Spring notes that defense spending is a relatively small share of the overall federal budget. And each year since 1992, it has actually represented a lower share of overall federal spending.
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