Mike McCord, undersecretary of defense (comptroller) and chief financial officer, appeared Wednesday before the House Budget Committee to discuss inflation and its impact on the Department of Defense’s budget request for fiscal year 2023, DOD News reported.
“When we saw prices changing last year, we took all the information that we could gather up to the time we finished the budget late in the calendar year and built that into our FY23 pricing,” he told lawmakers.
McCord, a previous Wash100 Award winner, also talked about the department’s use of a chain-weighted consumer price index to reflect higher inflation and price indices for health care, housing costs, fuel, and other goods.
“Prices have continued to evolve since we finalized our budget. We recognize the impact of global economic conditions on our ability to deliver the capabilities in this budget, and we’re prepared to work with Congress to find the best solutions to address these challenges as we move forward toward the congressional oversight of this budget,” McCord said.
In March, the administration released the president’s FY 2023 proposed budget that includes $773 billion in defense spending, up 4.1 percent from the enacted funding for FY 2022.