The Progressive Defense Budget

Lawrence J. Korb writes about decisions that should be made in the fiscal year 2021 defense budget—including the provision of funds to fight the coronavirus pandemic.

Advancing Racial Equity and Justice, Building an Economy for All, Strengthening Health, Coronavirus, COVID-19 +2 More

Media Contact

Sam Hananel

Senior Director, Media Relations

[email protected]

Government Affairs

Doug Molof

Director

[email protected]

According to a June 5 Communications Office of the House Armed Services Committee (HASC) memo, the HASC will be marking up the FY2021 defense budget for the rest of this month. If all goes as planned, the full committee will complete the mark up by July 1, 2020.

During this process, the Chair and Ranking Member of the HASC should play close attention to a letter from 29 members of the Progressive Caucus in the House of Representatives. On May 19, they called on the Chair and Ranking Member not to authorize an increase in defense spending for FY2021, which begins on October 1, 2020. This is a proposal that Adam Smith (D-WA) the chair of the HASC agrees with.

The above excerpt was originally published in Just Security. Click here to view the full article.

The positions of American Progress, and our policy experts, are independent, and the findings and conclusions presented are those of American Progress alone. A full list of supporters is available here. American Progress would like to acknowledge the many generous supporters who make our work possible.