NPP's Work: Spotlight on Military Spending

We at the National Priorities Project recently re-launched a major portion of our website, organizing our federal budget research content into eight issue areas:

  • Education
  • Transparency and Data
  • Taxes and Revenue
  • Budget Process
  • Debt and Deficit
  • Military and Security
  • Health Care
  • Social Insurance, Earned Benefits, and Entitlements

This week, we bring you key highlights on military and security spending as it relates to the federal budget:

  • In fiscal year 2015, military spending is projected to account for 55 percent of all federal discretionary spending - that’s the portion of the federal budget that the president requests and lawmakers determine each year in the appropriations process.
  • U.S. military expenditures are greater than military spending of the next 10 largest countries combined.
  • In the decade following Sept. 11, 2001, military spending increased 35 percent, adjusted for inflation. Spending on domestic discretionary programs – things like education and public transit – grew by 12 percent over the same time period.
  • By the end of fiscal 2014, the U.S. government will have spent an inflation-adjusted $1.75 trillion on the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.

For more on military and security, check out our video and factsheet

We'll continue to shine the spotlight on our other areas of work in the weeks to come. In the meantime, check out updated website for factsheets, interactive rools, and local federal budget data.