Dc Budget Request Fy 1999 PDF Download

President Clinton's defense budget request of $270.6 billion for fiscal year (FY) 1999 represents a real decline of 1.1 percent from current spending levels and continues a 14-year trend of real decline in defense spending - over 39 percent decline from rnid-1980s levels. It also represents a continuation of the defense budget "status quo"--Much-needed, long-term investment to recapitalize the U.S. armed services are being mortgaged to pay for short-term underfunded operating and sustainment needs. The FY 1999 defense budget request represents approximately 3.1 percent of the nation's gross domestic product, down by more than 50 percent from the mid-1980s level of 6.3 percent. Continuing a downward trend, the FY 1999 defense budget request, when measured in constant dollars, represents the smallest defense budget since the beginning of the Korean War in 1950. These downward trends will continue, and indeed be exacerbated by the proposed growth in domestic spending in the President's federal budget request.