President Trump's Proposal For A $54 Billion Increase In Defense Spending Is Being Ridiculed By The Defense 'Hawks'

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David Axe & Tim Mak, Daily Beast: Can the Pentagon Get By on Just $603 Billion?

Trump wants the military to have an extra $84 billion or so. Some defense hawks are already complaining that’s not enough. Seriously.

President Donald Trump wants to increase military spending, potentially by $54 billion in 2018 and also add as much as $30 billion to the Pentagon’s 2017 budget, potentially boosting defense spending to levels not seen since the heights of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars.

The details aren’t in yet. But budget-conscious conservatives and good government groups are already halfway-convinced that the extra money—up to $30 billion more in 2017 and another an $54 billion in 2018—is about to go to waste. Meanwhile, defense hawks have started complaining that a mere $603 billion in annual military spending (plus $30 billion to $60 billion in “supplemental” cash) is too little, too late.

Even the smaller boost to military spending could set off a civil war within Republican ranks. Sen. John McCain, an Arizona Republican and the Senate’s leading defense hawk, said that the Trump administration’s spending increase was little more than a gimmick.

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More News On Criticisms Of president Trump's Proposed $54 Billion Increase In Defense Spending

McCain, Thornberry Decry Trump Pentagon Budget Boost -- Breaking Defense
McCain, Thornberry rip White House budget plan on defense -- Defense News
Trump says he's boosting defense spending by $54 billion. The real number is $18 billion. -- Yochi Dreazen, VOX
Trump 'Historic' Defense Increase Is Barely Above What Obama Planned -- And Faces Similar Obstacles -- Loren Thompson, Forbes
Reality Check: Trump Proposal Doesn't Cover Major Military Expansion -- NPR