Statement: Khanna Criticizes Defense Spending Increase in Biden's $1.5 T 2022 Budget

Statement

Today, Rep. Ro Khanna, Progressive Caucus Deputy Whip and Member of the House Armed Services Committee, released the following statement regarding President Biden's $1.5T 2022 budget.

"At a time when his own Treasury Secretary, Janet Yellen, recently criticized a federal budget that is basically "military and pensions' without building our productivity capability here at home, it's disappointing that President Biden would propose a budget of $715 billion for the Pentagon, an increase of 1.6% over Trump's $704 billion budget, instead of working toward returning to the Obama-Biden era spending levels.

I am pleased to see that the proposal eliminates the overseas contingency operations (OCO) slush fund, but I am concerned that this budget will likely include other wasteful spending such as funding the new GBSD ICBM missiles that will cost almost $100B (over 10 years). We need a fundamental shift in how we address national security issues and invest in climate action and pandemic response. Those are the issues impacting the security of the American people and will keep Americans safer than spending billions on more deadly weapons."

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