Obama’s New Defense Budget

By Alyssa Landers

 

NEW YORK, Mar. 1—On Wednesday, President Barack Obama spoke to Congress in his first un-official state of the union address.  In the speech, he spoke of plans to reform the education and healthcare systems, as well as America’s energy policy, but devoted little time to a discussion of foreign policy. 

 

The largest allocation of budget funds for 2009 is for defense.  With the estimated average cost of the Iraq War at about $10 billion per month, many within Pentagon officials over the past year expected cuts.  Although Mr. Obama pledged to withdraw all troops from Iraq by August of 2010, during his Wednesday speech, he was clear about advancing the defense budget to $534 billion, thereby giving almost half of the national budget to defense.  

The administration justifies the proposed defense budget increase by its commitment to a thorough review of all entraneous expenses that are costing the government millions of dollars annually, including farm subsidies and nuclear weapons programs.  The defense budget increase also places a particular emphasis on augmenting the salaries of military personnel.     

 

And considering his plans to increase the national defense budget by 4%, military contracting companies are waiting with bated breath.  After Mr. Obama’s announcement this past Friday that he plans to withdraw from Iraq by the end of next year, economic prospects for contracting opportunities overseas looked dim, especially in light of the current economic crisis.

 

President Obama’s Wednesday speech, however, gave a ray of hope to contractors looking to gain an economic foothold and keep afloat.  Much of the allocation of resources will be determined by Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates, as he will decide which programs are viable and which are not. 

 

And as Congress debates over the next two months which programs should stay and which should go, the debate is expected to get heated. 

 

One thing that is not under debate, however, is the president’s approval rating, which rose to approximately 68% following the February 25^th congressional address.  Although some remain skeptical, attributing Mr. Obama’s consistently high approval ratings in spite of the economic crisis simply to his “new-ness,” others view his proclamation to withdraw the troops as a possible harbinger of economic prosperity.  

 

Either way, it is clear that even if a few of the provisions under Obama’s stimulus package will be contested, American citizens are backing up the president.