Lloyd Austin, secretary of the Department of Defense and a 2022 Wash100 Award winner, said DOD developed the $773 billion budget request for fiscal year 2023 based on the new National Defense Strategy and that he believes the proposal is sufficient in supporting today’s military, DOD News reported Wednesday.
“We built this budget based upon our national defense strategy, … [and] we were very diligent and careful to make sure that we went after the capabilities that we needed to support that strategy,” Austin told the House Appropriations Defense Subcommittee Wednesday. “I’m confident that we were successful in doing that.”
The budget request funds programs in Europe and in the Indo-Pacific region.
“This is a very healthy budget and provides a significant capability,” Austin told House lawmakers.
During the hearing, Austin talked about the anti-tank weapons, artillery pieces and other equipment that the U.S. is providing Ukraine. He also called on the Senate to pass a $40 billion Ukraine aid package, which was approved by the House.
Army Gen. Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and Mike McCord, DOD’s comptroller/chief financial officer, also testified before the House subpanel. Milley and McCord are both previous Wash100 Award.