Why should we cut military spending?

The United States needs to cut military spending and shift money to two pressing threats: pandemics and climate change. That path could and should have centered on the most imminent threats to our security: climate change and potentially pandemic infectious diseases.

Do taxpayers pay for the military?

In short, roughly 20 percent of the federal budget is dedicated to defense and security, which can be understood as the percent of tax dollars spent on the military.

How much of the US budget is spent on defense?

The Trump administration’s projected defense spending for 2020 is just over 15\% of all federal government spending and about 3.2\% of GDP. National defense spending averaged 5-10\% of GDP during the Cold War decades. Does the United States spend too much, or too little, on defense?

How can DoD’s budget be reduced?

This option encompasses two alternative decreases in DoD’s budget. The first would reduce DoD’s budget over three years so that funding in 2022 would be 10 percent less than the funding planned for that year in the Administration’s 2019 FYDP. The second would reduce DoD’s budget by 5 percent over that same period.

How big is the US military budget compared to China’s?

While the current U.S. military budget exceeds China’s military spending by 3-to-1 and Russia’s by more than 10-to-1, we must look beyond the size of the defense budget alone. The Trump administration’s projected defense spending for 2020 is just over 15\% of all federal government spending and about 3.2\% of GDP.

How much will DoD spend on defense in 2022?

The second would reduce DoD’s budget by 5 percent over that same period. Both alternatives would allow for real (inflation-adjusted) growth of 1 percent annually after 2022. Under the first alternative, funding for DoD in 2022 would be $637 billion, excluding funding for overseas contingency operations.