DEFENSE BUDGET FOR FY2001: DATA SUMMARY (CRS Report for Congress)
Premium Purchase PDF for $24.95 (32 pages)
add to cart or
subscribe for unlimited access
Pro Premium subscribers have free access to our full library of CRS reports.
Subscribe today, or
request a demo to learn more.
| Release Date |
Feb. 23, 2000 |
| Report Number |
RL30447 |
| Report Type |
Report |
| Authors |
Mary T. Tyszkiewics and Stephen Daggett, Foreign Affairs, Defense, and Trade Division |
| Source Agency |
Congressional Research Service |
Summary:
This report presents defense budget data in a manner designed to provide various perspectives
on
U.S. military spending. Part I presents basic data on the Clinton Administration's FY2001 national
defense budget request, including data on budget authority and outlays for the Department of
Defense and for the national defense budget function. Part II shows trends in overall defense
spending, including figures on the growth and decline of defense spending, on defense outlays as a
share of federal expenditures, and on defense outlays as a share of gross domestic product. Part III
defines key defense budget terms.
Among the trends reflected in these data, several stand out.
The Clinton Administration is requesting $305.4 billion in new budget
authority for national defense in FY2001 (see Table 1), which represents an increase of 1.3 percent
in real, inflation-adjusted dollars from the FY2000 level.
Budget authority for national defense (including DOD military functions and
defense-related activities of other federal agencies) declined by 33 percent, adjusted for inflation,
between FY1985, the peak of the 1980s buildup, and FY2000. (See Table 6.) Under Administration
projections, funding for national defense will stay flat, adjusted for inflation, through
FY2005.
Funding for weapons procurement has been in decline since FY1985,
bottoming out in FY1997 at $45.2 billion in constant FY2001 dollars. Between FY1985 and
FY2000, procurement funding declined much more rapidly than the defense budget as a whole,
falling by 60%. Under Administration plans, it will increase over the next few years. (See Figure
2.)
Under Administration projections for FY2001, outlays for national defense will
constitute 2.9 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) (see Table 11 and Figure 8) and 15.6 percent
of total federal outlays (see Table 13 and Figure 9). National defense spending will represent a
smaller share of the economy than at any time since before World War II. In comparison, during the
defense buildup of the 1980s, national defense spending reached a peak of 6.2 percent of GDP in
FY1986 and 27.1 percent of total federal outlays in FY1987. While defense outlays are at
historically low levels as a percentage of total federal outlays, this trend depends as much on
increases in other areas of the federal budget -- especially in Social Security, Medicare, and other
entitlements -- as on decreases in defense spending.
To illustrate trends in the regular defense program, most of the data included in this report
exclude costs of Operation Desert Shield/Desert Storm, which was largely financed by allied
contributions.
