Tulsi Gabbard on defense-budget: what the evidence says · JRE #1880
SUBJECT: DEFENSE-BUDGET
Not a true/false call. Every claim is logged with its sources; read the exhibits below.
When you're talking about $1.7 trillion for 2022, that's so much money. It comes down to who we are choosing to elect, really.
What the evidence says 01 / RECORD
Gabbard stated that the 2022 U.S. defense budget was $1.7 trillion. Official Department of Defense budget documents show the FY2022 DoD budget request was $715 billion, and the total national defense request (including Department of Energy nuclear programs) was $753 billion. The National Defense Authorization Act signed into law in December 2021 authorized $768.2 billion in national defense spending, including $740 billion for DoD programs; the companion appropriations bill later enacted roughly $777-782 billion in actual defense spending for the fiscal year. None of these figures approach $1.7 trillion; the actual FY2022 defense budget was less than half the amount Gabbard cited. There is no standard accounting of U.S. defense or military spending for FY2022, even including veterans' benefits and homeland security, that reaches $1.7 trillion in a single year.