It happens every year. Commentators and editorialists spin the dollar figure(s) and mold the numbers in the budget request into whatever story they are trying to tell about national security spending. At Taxpayers for Common Sense, we’re all about the numbers and we’ll give them to you straight.

First, “national security spending” (also called the “050 account” for real budget nerds) is more than just spending at the Pentagon (the “051 account”). National security spending includes spending on nuclear weapons programs at the Department of Energy (053), some law enforcement accounts (054).

So, here’s the numbers from the Fiscal Year 2023 (FY23) request:

The total National Defense dollar figured enacted for Fiscal Year 2022, just a couple of weeks ago, was $766.6 billion in discretionary and mandatory spending.

Today’s total National Defense budget request, both discretionary and mandatory, is $827 billion.

This is an increase of $60.4 billion or roughly 7.2% over the level enacted just a couple of weeks ago.