The Biden administration is requesting $886 billion in defense spending for 2024, urging a 3% increase that would establish one of the largest peacetime military budgets ever.
The ask came on Thursday as part of President Joe Biden’s overall budget request — the annual pitch to Congress that is seen as the clearest statement of a president’s values and goals. It highlighted two facts about defense policy under Biden: that the president is counting on his national security credentials for his reelection bid, and that there is little chance he will restrict the military budgets the way many progressives and some conservatives want to.
Despite the administration’s promises to focus on domestic investment and diplomacy over militarism in foreign policy, the United States’ annual military spending is quickly nearing $1 trillion and could hit that symbolic mark while Biden is in office.
Biden’s team championed his huge defense request by saying it is necessary for the U.S. to…
