While President Obama’s $668 billion defense budget request for Fiscal 2010 reflects a historic high level of funding, there are implications beyond the future years defense plan since increased personnel costs, particularly for health care, will begin to crowd out other areas of the budget, suggests a new analysis by the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments. In Fiscal 2010, health care accounts for about $47 billion of the defense request and, at its current rate of growth, is on track to nearly double every 10 years, Todd Harrison, CSBA fellow, told journalists during an Aug. 12 briefing in Washington, D.C. Continue
Earlier this week, the People’s Republic of China confirmed it is halting its nuclear arms control talks with the U.S., in retaliation for the U.S. continuing to sell arms to Taiwan. The move reinforces a “pattern of behavior” from Beijing, experts say.