Lawmakers who voted for NDAA got four and five times more money from contractors, respectively.
by Stephen Semler, Responsible Statecraft
Following the Senate’s lead, the House approved the annual National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) on Friday, thereby authorizing $886 billion in military spending for fiscal year (FY) 2024.
By comparison, the FY2021 iteration of the bill — the last NDAA under Trump — authorized $740 billion. While Trump had managed to spike annual military spending by an incredible 20 percent in four years, Biden just accomplished the same feat in three. (Another $62 billion in Pentagon funding is included in Biden’s foreign aid bill, which is still being debated in Congress.)
This is undoubtedly good news for the arms industry. Over the last decade, 55 percent of U.S. military spending went to military contractors, and there’s no reason to expect contractors’ share of the $886 billion budget for FY2024 to be much (if any) different.
The annual military budget is the lifeblood for the arms industry, their golden goose. This is especially the case for the largest military contractors. For example, Lockheed Martin — the largest federal contractor, military or otherwise — derived 72 percent of its revenue from government contracts last year.
Recent Posts
U.S. Sent a Rescue Plane For Boat Strike Survivors. It Took 45 Hours To Arrive.
Take Action Now In seas that could kill a person within an hour, it took nearly two days for a rescue plane to arrive.By Tomi McCluskey and Nick…
“Keep Hope Alive”: Remembering Rev. Jesse Jackson, Civil Rights Icon Who Twice Ran For President
Take Action Now “Our father was a servant leader — not only to our family, but to the oppressed, the voiceless, and the overlooked around the…
The Iranian Trap: Neither Military Action Nor Nuclear Negotiations Can Solve Trump’s (and Israel’s) Conundrum
Take Action Now After a failed regime-change strategy and an increasingly risky military buildup, the Trump administration turns back to nuclear…
Suffocating an Island: What the U.S. Blockade Is Doing to Cuba
Take Action Now Electric motorcycles are Cuba’s response to the fuel crisis.By Medea Benjamin Marta Jiménez, a hairdresser in Cuba’s eastern city…