Troop Costs Vie With Weapons

U.S. Army Staff Sgt. Matt Leahart washes his clothes in an ammunition can on Combat Outpost Munoz in Paktika province, Afghanistan, Nov. 13, 2009. Leahart is assigned to Company B, 3rd Battalion, 509th Infantry. U.S. Army photo by Staff Sgt. Andrew Smith

From DoD Buzz:

The non-partisan Congressional Budget Office, the new force in Washington policy debates amid fears over sky-high federal deficits, said defense budgets must grow by at least 6 percent beginning next year to pay for weapons programs currently on the books. The base defense budget would have to increase to an average of $567 billion annually for two decades; the 2010 budget request was $534 billion.

While a 6 percent increase in defense spending might not appear all that high — the defense budget had been increasing by nearly 8 percent a year since 2001 — it looms large when viewed in the context of sluggish U.S. economic growth, record deficits, and the need to pay interest on that growing pile of debt.

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My Comment: My prediction .... the budget cutters are going to target the Defense Budget, even with the Afghan war going full blast. Congress will probably push back hard against these changes, but with projected high unemployment and with the 2010 Congressional elections looking grim for Democrats in this election cycle, I expect the White to NOT get their way when Defense appropriation bills are voted on in the middle of next year.