Pentagon asks for massive $718B for budget

By Umar Farooq</p> <p>WASHINGTON (AA) – The Pentagon is asking for $718 billion dollars in its budget for the fiscal year 2020, a five percent increase over the approved budget for 2019.</p> <p>While the White House released the general points of the defense budget on Monday, the Pentagon released the full budget on Tuesday.</p> <p>The $718 billion budget is comprised of a base budget of $544 billion, with an additional $164 billion dedicated to overseas contingency operations.</p> <p>The Department of Defense also requested $14 billion dollars for a space force, of which $72 million will be used toward the building of a headquarters for the new military branch.</p> <p>U.S. President Donald Trump first announced plans last year to create a space force, which would become the sixth branch of the armed forces.</p> <p>It would be the first new military branch in 72 years.</p> <p>The Pentagon also asked for $13.6 billion toward the development of missile defense capabilities as China and Russia race to create new hypersonic weapons.</p> <p>Within the budget request also lies $9 billion for emergency funds, which include hurricane relief efforts, as well as $3.6 billion directed toward potentially building parts of Trump’s border wall.</p> <p>“We have new money for the border in our budget to support the presidents priority,” Deputy Under Secretary of Defense Elaine McCusker said in a news briefing.</p> <p>Last month, Trump declared a national emergency on border security, attempting to circumvent Congress for funds after lawmakers gave him only a small fraction of the $5.7 billion he had been seeking to build the U.S.-Mexico border wall.</p> <p>The Trump administration's budget is merely a request to Congress, which has the authority to craft and approve federal budgets. The budget proposal is unlikely to be mirrored by the federal legislature.</p> <p>