US President Joe Biden has asked Congress to allocate $753 billion from the federal budget for national defense programs. The funds will also be used to deter threats allegedly coming from China and Russia, CNN reported on April 9.
That amount is 1.7% more than last year, according to a note from the acting Director of the Office of Management and Budget, Shalanda Yang.
"The request focuses on countering the threat from China as the main task of the Pentagon. The Ministry of Defense will also seek to deter destabilizing behavior on the part of Russia, " the statement said.
Directly to the Pentagon of this amount is expected to allocate $715 billion. The amount announced by Biden does not correspond to the $722 billion that the administration of his predecessor, Donald Trump, allocated for the 2022 fiscal year.
As the US administration said at an official briefing, "most" of the increase in defense spending will go to pay for an increase in the salaries of military men and women in uniform.
On the eve of it was reported that Biden can reduce the cost of the US military budget by $7 billion in comparison with the indicators of the Trump administration. Such a move should be appreciated by the Democratic Party, which advocated reducing defense spending.