Pentagon budget 2022: White House reveals USD715 billion topline request

The Biden administration has notified Congress that it will request USD715 billion in discretionary funds for the Department of Defense (DoD) next year, an increase over this year’s enacted topline budget.

On 9 April the White House’s Office Management and Budget (OMB) announced that it will request USD753 billion in national defence funding for fiscal year (FY) 2022, with the bulk of which is for the DoD. The Pentagon’s coffer would get a 1.6% increase over the FY 2021 enacted funding level of USD704 billion. However, with roughly a 1.7% 12-month inflation rate, the overall request remains relatively flat.

Despite the negligible change in proposed Pentagon spending for next year, OMB said it will ask for a 16% increase for non-defence discretionary funding with a USD769.4 billion request.

The request also discontinues the practice of requesting separate funds marked for ‘Overseas Contingency Operations’ and instead includes those funds inside the DoD base budget.

“The discretionary request prioritises the need to counter the threat from China as the Department’s top challenge,” OMB wrote in a letter to Congress. “The department would also seek to deter destabilizing behaviour by Russia. Leveraging the Pacific Deterrence Initiative and working together with allies and partners in the Indo-Pacific region and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, DoD would ensure that the United States builds the concepts, capabilities, and posture necessary to meet these challenges.”

Lloyd Austin, the new US Defense Secretary, will have to sell his budget to Congress. The Biden administration plans to request USD715 billion in DoD discretionary funding for FY 2022. (DoD)