Examining Military Funding Trends: A Look at the Obama Administration and Beyond

Understanding the trajectory of U.S. military funding requires a nuanced look at historical budgets, presidential priorities, and the evolving global security landscape. While the prompt asks about Obama increasing military funding, a comprehensive analysis reveals a more complex picture, with fluctuations and shifts in spending priorities throughout his presidency and into subsequent administrations. This article will delve into the defense budgets during the Obama years, compare them to earlier and later periods, and provide context for current defense spending discussions.

The Obama Administration’s Defense Budgetary Landscape

During President Barack Obama’s tenure, from 2009 to 2017, U.S. military spending saw significant debate and adjustment. While Obama inherited a defense budget that was already substantial, his administration navigated a period marked by ongoing wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the rise of new global threats, and domestic fiscal pressures.

Initial Years and War Funding

In fiscal year 2010, President Obama requested $534 billion for the Department of Defense, a 1.7 percent increase over President Bush’s final defense budget after adjusting for inflation. This increase was partly attributed to the administration’s plan to integrate war spending, previously handled through supplemental bills, into the regular Pentagon budget. This shift aimed to bring war funding under greater budget oversight.

The Obama administration’s defense plan for fiscal years 2017 through 2021 called for an average base-budget funding of $540 billion in 2017 dollars. In February 2016, the Department of Defense estimated its fiscal year 2017 plans would cost $583 billion, including $530 billion for base-budget activities and $54 billion for overseas contingency operations (OCO).

Shifts in Spending and Priorities

While some analyses suggest that defense budgets under Obama averaged $687 billion per year between 2009 and 2014, it’s crucial to note the context. The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, which continued into the Obama administration, significantly influenced defense spending levels. By 2015, national security spending as a percentage of the federal budget had decreased to 15.9 percent from 20.1 percent in 2010. Similarly, defense spending as a percentage of GDP fell from 4.6 percent to 3.3 percent during the same period.

These reductions were partly due to the administration’s decision to withdraw troops from Iraq and Afghanistan and the implementation of sequestration, which mandated automatic, across-the-board cuts to both military and non-military spending.

In his final budget proposal in February 2016, President Obama requested $582.7 billion for the Department of Defense for fiscal year 2017. This represented a 2.2 percent increase over the previous year’s funding. This budget included $523.9 billion for base discretionary spending and $58.8 billion for overseas contingency operations.

Comparing Defense Spending Across Administrations

To accurately assess Obama’s impact on military funding, it’s helpful to compare it with other presidential periods.

Post-World War II to Cold War Era

In the post-World War II era, U.S. national defense spending as a percentage of GDP ranged from a high of 15 percent in 1952 (during the Korean War) to a low of 3.7 percent in 2000. During the Cold War (1948–1990), Pentagon spending averaged $458 billion per year.

Post-Cold War and the Bush Administration

Following the fall of the Berlin Wall, defense spending decreased. However, it began to rise again with the post-9/11 wars. Defense budgets under President George W. Bush averaged $601 billion per year. The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan during the Bush and Obama administrations saw defense spending rise to about 4 percent of GDP.

The Trump Administration and Beyond

The Trump administration’s defense budgets were generally larger than those in the latter years of the Obama administration, when adjusted for inflation. For instance, the defense budgets signed by Trump were 10.8% lower than the 2009-2012 budgets in inflation-adjusted dollars, but 9.3% larger than the 2013-2016 budgets.

Looking ahead, the Biden-Harris Administration submitted a proposed Fiscal Year 2025 budget request of $849.8 billion for the Department of Defense. This budget is consistent with caps approved by Congress under the Financial Responsibility Act of 2023. The FY 2025 defense budget requests $28.4 billion to enhance U.S. missile-defense capabilities and includes $143.2 billion for research, development, test, and evaluation, and $167.5 billion for procurement.

The proposed budget for DoD in 2025 totals $850 billion, which is 1.1 percent less, in real terms, than the amount anticipated for 2025 in the previous FYDP and 1.7 percent less than the amount appropriated by Congress for 2024 (excluding supplemental funding). Funding for national defense in FY 2025 is capped at $895 billion, as requested by the Biden administration.

Key Components of Defense Spending

Defense budgets are allocated across various categories, including personnel, procurement, research and development, and operations and maintenance.

Personnel Costs

Personnel costs, including salaries and benefits for active-duty and reserve uniformed personnel, account for a significant portion of defense spending. For FY 2025, these costs are projected to total about $182 billion for 1.3 million active-duty and 800,000 reserve personnel.

Procurement and RDT&E

Procurement, which involves the acquisition of weapon systems and equipment, and Research, Development, Test, and Evaluation (RDT&E) are critical for modernizing the military. The FY 2025 budget requests $167.5 billion for procurement and $143.2 billion for RDT&E. In the Obama administration’s FY 2017 budget, $112.1 billion was allocated for procurement and $71.8 billion for RDT&E.

Operations and Maintenance (O&M)

The Operations and Maintenance (O&M) budget covers the day-to-day functioning of the military, including personnel support, training, and equipment maintenance. A significant share of the O&M budget goes towards paying civilian employees and contractors.

Conclusion

The narrative of “Obama increasing military funding” is an oversimplification. While defense budgets remained substantial during his presidency, they also saw adjustments due to strategic shifts, the winding down of major conflicts, and fiscal constraints like sequestration. The Obama administration’s approach involved a complex balancing act between maintaining military readiness, investing in new technologies, and addressing domestic economic concerns.

Current defense spending proposals, such as the $849.8 billion request for FY 2025, indicate a continued focus on modernizing the military and addressing evolving global threats, particularly from China and Russia. The historical context provided by defense spending trends across different administrations highlights the dynamic nature of military budgeting, which is continually shaped by geopolitical events, technological advancements, and national policy priorities.