THE WHITE HOUSE WILL SEEK A NATIONAL SECURITY BUDGET OF $813.3 BILLION

 Large amount of money seeks to invest the United States in national security

President Joe Biden plans to request $813.3 billion in national security spending, including $773 billion for the Pentagon, in the federal budget he will send to Congress on Monday, according to officials familiar with the plan.

That's an increase of $31 billion, or 4%, from approved spending for the current fiscal year and about $43 billion more than the White House budget office had projected a year ago for fiscal year 2023.

The total national security budget includes spending for the Department of Defense, the Department of Energy's nuclear weapons, and the FBI's national security functions. Officials familiar with the budget plan asked not to be identified before it was released.

The budget reflects China's growing military challenge and development of costly new defense systems, from upgrading the nation's aging nuclear arsenal to developing new hypersonic weapons. It was completed in the expectation that Russia would likely invade Ukraine and some defense spending was changed accordingly. Support in Congress is likely to be boosted by the added challenge of confronting Russia.

The request will include $130.1 billion for research and development, the largest request ever made by the Pentagon in that category, which will go into categories such as accelerated hypersonics and artificial intelligence research. That's about $15.6 billion more than the budget office had projected last year.

A White House official who was granted anonymity to discuss the spending plan said it marked one of the largest national security investments in US history that would strengthen US allies in Europe and India. -Pacific and would provide assistance to Ukraine.

The administration requested $145.9 billion for acquisitions, about $9.4 billion more than projected last year. Among the items on the shopping list: 61 F-35 fighter jets from Lockheed Martin Corp., fewer than previously planned, as well as Northrop Grumman Corp.'s initial acquisition of the B-21 bomber and two Virginia-class submarines from General Dynamics Corp. and Huntington Ingalls Industries Corp.

The budget request will also call for up to $548 million in upgrades to the nuclear submarine industrial base.

The national security request typically makes up about half of the entire discretionary federal budget approved by Congress. The White House has yet to publish its National Security Strategy or Pentagon-generated National Defense Strategy that is supposed to outline the strategic rationale for the spending.

Biden signed into law $782 billion for national defense activities in the current year, an increase of $32.5 billion over fiscal year 2021 levels. Outside of that, the Pentagon's portion of discretionary spending is $728.5 billion.

There is a continuing willingness among both Republicans and some key Democrats to increase defense spending. Republican members of the House and Senate Armed Services panels, led by Rep. Mike Rogers of Alabama and Sen. Jim Inhofe of Oklahoma, have been pushing Biden to call for a 2023 national security budget that represents the inflation plus an additional 5% on the $782 billion enacted for this year.