星期二公布的预算草案将把国防部的基本预算开支增加到5745亿美元，比国会提出的开支上线多出520亿美元。这些经费将用于购置6艘军舰、一些新式战斗机以及弹药，同时可使美国军力增加5万6千名军人。
五角大楼首席财务官约翰·罗斯星期二下午告诉记者说，军费的增加将有助于军队的战备。他表示，“这个世界已经变得更加危险” 。
美国智库传统基金会国防政策高级研究员约翰·维纳布尔斯表示，政府预算案需要在接下来的两年里每年继续增加军费大约200到300亿美元，并在多年内保持军费预算的增加，确保军队得到足够的经费。
维纳布尔斯告诉美国之音说: “我们对军队提出很多要求。我们要求他们很多。我们长时间以来一直只为他们提供所需的百分之75到80的军费，现在得到的‘红利’就是军事装备的破旧和军人士气低落。”
军费预算还将为突发海外行动提供大约650亿美元的经费，其中包括460亿美元用于在阿富汗的军事行动。这笔钱的剩余部分将用于在伊拉克和叙利亚打击伊斯兰国的军事行动，支持北约盟国和美国在欧洲的伙伴国家，建立全球各地伙伴国的能力。
6680亿美元的军费预算还包括能源及司法部与国防相关的大约280亿美元的开支。
The proposal released Tuesday would increase the Defense Department’s base budget to $574.5 billion — $52 billion over congressional spending caps. It would buy six ships, several new fighter jets and munitions, while growing the U.S. fighting force by more than 56,000 service members.
Pentagon Chief Financial Officer John Roth told reporters on Tuesday the increases would help with military readiness. “The world has become a more dangerous place,” he said.
John “JV” Venable, senior research fellow for defense policy at the Heritage Foundation, said the budget would need to continue to increase by about $20 billion to $30 billion each year for the next two years — and sustain that budget increase for several years — to ensure the force is properly funded.
“We’ve put so many demands on our services. We ask so much of them,” Venable told VOA. “We have funded it at 75 to 80 percent of what they need to do that job for so long, right now, the dividends are paid in worn equipment and people who are discouraged.”
The budget also calls for about $65 billion for a contingency fund for overseas operations, including $46 billion for operations in Afghanistan. The remainder of this fund would pay for countering Islamic State operations in Iraq and Syria, bolstering NATO allies and U.S. partners in Europe, and building partner capacity around the globe.
The $668 billion total budget also would include about $28 billion for defense-related spending by the Energy and Justice departments.