Biden to reduce US defense spending

President Joe Biden plans to request $715 billion for his first Pentagon budget, a decrease from Trump-era spending trends, Report states, citing Bloomberg.

The White House plans to release an outline Friday of Biden’s spending priorities, including defense. The $715 billion Pentagon “topline” is likely to be presented as a compromise to Democrats pressing for cuts in defense spending, as some of the money would be slated for the Pentagon’s environmental initiatives.

The Trump administration had planned to propose about $722 billion for the Defense Department in the fiscal year.

The fiscal 2022 budget will be the first in a decade in which defense and non-defense spending aren’t constrained by budget caps, meaning that Congress has an opening to shift funds from defense to non-defense spending, or the reverse.