{"id":39335,"date":"2021-06-23T19:55:14","date_gmt":"2021-06-23T19:55:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/militarytimes\/uncategorized\/2021\/06\/23\/bidens-pentagon-chiefs-tell-lawmakers-flat-budget-is-enough\/"},"modified":"2026-08-07T21:52:05","modified_gmt":"2026-08-07T21:52:05","slug":"bidens-pentagon-chiefs-tell-lawmakers-flat-budget-is-enough","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/militarytimes\/news\/pentagon-congress\/2021\/06\/23\/bidens-pentagon-chiefs-tell-lawmakers-flat-budget-is-enough\/","title":{"rendered":"Pentagon chiefs insist flat defense budget is enough"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

WASHINGTON \u2015 Top defense officials have completed multiple trips to Capitol Hill<\/a> to defend President Joe Biden\u2019s flat defense budget request, and now the task of tailoring that request falls to Congress.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Biden administration sent Congress a fiscal 2022 budget request <\/a>that seeks $715 billion for defense \u2015 an $11 billion increase which some progressives say is too much and lead Republicans say is too little. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In their last appearance of the budget season, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. Mark Milley told the House Armed Services Committee the request is just right.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI think that this budget provides us flexibility in granting the capabilities we need to support the operational concepts that will allow us to be not only competitive against any near peer, but actually dominant in that battlespace,\u201d Austin said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The comments came in an exchange with the panel chairman, Rep. Adam Smith, D-Wash., who said he feels the request is more than sufficient and made clear he intends to resist bipartisan pressure to add items from the military\u2019s lists of unfunded priorities. Would missing anything from the lists, he asked, \u201cmake it impossible for you to do your job?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cNo matter how large the budget, there\u2019s always this list of unfunded \u2018requirements,\u2019 and it strikes me as simply a forcing mechanism to, no matter what, force money into the system,\u201d Smith said. \u201cWhat we really need to do is force more effectiveness out of the money that we get, but we have this $25 billion list of unfunded requirements.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Are the items on the lists critical for the military\u2019s success relative to China, terrorism and other threats? \u201cThe answer is no, in my professional opinion,\u201d Milley said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIf they were critical, then they need to be higher on the priority list and in the base budget,\u201d he explained, adding that they\u2019re provided to lawmakers as a \u201cflexibility option\u201d in drafting a final budget.<\/p>\n\n\n\t