House and Senate Agree to Add $45 Billion to Biden’s Military Budget

A tight-lipped compromise was made recently in Congress that seems to indicate a 2023 National Defense Authorization Act heading for a vote early next week containing $45 billion is additional funding, over and above what Biden requested earlier.

If passed by both houses the total would amount to $847 billion, rising to $858 billion when programs outside the jurisdiction of the House and Senate armed services committees are factored in.

It would also be the second time running that the People’s House would have increased President Biden’s request by double digits.

Politico who spoke with an anonymous official familiar with the negotiations over the NDAA, reported that both committees have largely agreed on the contents and have passed the legislation off to congressional leadership.

While exactly what the $45 billion was for was not specified in the Politico report, Antiwar reports that certain lawmakers of late have been trying to tack on amendments that would see unprecedented spending totals going towards equipping Taiwan—perhaps as much as $3 billion a year for five years.

Politico claimed the totals were for the dual purpose of adjusting line items for expected inflation, and “keeping pace with China,” despite the $753 billion budget requested by President Biden being more than three times as much as China spends on her military. WaL