Military faces another potential coronavirus toll: Budget cuts

As the novel coronavirus has swept the globe, Pentagon officials have scrambled to adjust everything from basic training to submarine deployments to prevent the pandemic from taking a lasting toll on the military’s ability to respond to adversaries.

But the covid-19 crisis could yield a different sort of long-term impact on the military, one outside the Pentagon’s ability to control: a possible reduction in military spending resulting from the country’s emerging economic meltdown.

Pentagon leaders are requesting a defense budget of $705 billion for fiscal 2021, representing half of the federal government’s discretionary spending and probably once again ensuring that U.S. military spending is far greater than that of any other country.

Read the full article and more in The Washington Post.