WASHINGTON — Pentagon brass have asked Congress for nearly $1 billion for anti-missile and cybersecurity programs that are not part of President Joe Biden’s budget request, bringing to more than $21 billion the so-called unfunded priorities the armed services and military commands are seeking for fiscal 2023.
The Missile Defense Agency’s $748 million request to Congress and U.S. Cyber Command’s $236 million request, expressed in a pair of documents obtained by CQ Roll Call, are the latest of a bevy of unfunded lists provided to Congress in recent weeks.
The lists have become a de facto addendum to each president’s annual budget. They provide a way for lawmakers to know which military priorities could benefit from extra funds, and they bolster hawks’ arguments that defense spending is not meeting all the military’s needs.
