The FY 2009 Defense Budget Request: The Growing Gap in Defense Spending

Publication Date: February 2008

Publisher: Heritage Foundation (Washington, D.C.)

Author(s): Baker Spring

Research Area: Military and defense

Keywords: National security; defense procurement; supplemental appropriations; military health care

Type: Report

Coverage: United States

Abstract:

Projected growth in entitlement spending, not defense spending, is at the core of the federal government's looming fiscal crisis. Current defense expenditures, or even spending equivalent to 4 percent of GDP, will not jeopardize either the health of the economy or the prosperity of the American people. A sustained commitment to defense is necessary to sustain liberty.