Rising Inflation Is Beginning to Worry Pentagon Leaders – By Marcus Weisgerber (Defense One) / Nov 16 2021
Higher salaries and more expensive weapons looming large as the Defense Department assembles next budget proposal.
The biggest inflation spike in three decades has the Pentagon bracing for salary increases and more expensive weapons, according to current and former defense officials.
Their warnings arrive as Congress is more than a month late in passing the Pentagon’s annual budget, meaning spending is frozen at the prior year’s level.
“It’s certainly a concern that we have right now, but…there’s a bit of a speculative part to it as well,” Pentagon Comptroller Mike McCord said Monday.
Last week, the government said the consumer price index rose 6.2 percent in the past year, the highest increase in more than 30 years. Americans are paying more for everything from cars to furniture.
