The Trump administration is expected to ask for a major increase of $716 billion in defense spending next month in its proposal for the 2019 budget, officials tell The Washington Post. That’s an increase by more than 7% over the 2018 budget, which still hasn’t made its way through Congress to passage.
Why it matters: U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said last week that spending caps and continuing resolutions get in the way of the military’s ability to shift spending around to appropriately match defense priorities. But the DoD just released its national defense strategy, which shifts the country’s priorities to countering China and Russia instead of terrorism.