U.S. funding for defense has increased dramatically during the past five years. Including the cost of ongoing military operations, the country now spends nearly $200 billion more a year on defense than it did in 2000. In 2005, even adjusting for inflation, funding for defense will exceed the level reached in 1968 at the height of the Vietnam War, and in 1985 at the height of the Reagan buildup. Moreover, under the Bush administration's newly released budget request, funding in the Defense Dept.'s regular, annual appropriations bills is projected to increase in real (inflation-adjusted) terms through 2009. Notwithstanding today's near-record defense budget levels and projections of continued growth, the next several years are likely to see increasing attention focused on the need to scale back a range of Defense Dept. programs and activities.
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