Every year, Democrats in Congress use an implicit threat to keep fiscal extremists in the Republican Party from gutting the safety net: cuts to the military budget. And every year, they back off that threat. The resolution, every time, is a growing military budget.

This year, congressional leadership in the House and Senate have negotiated a budget with domestic spending — everything from public education and public health, to housing and environmental protections — frozen at almost last year’s level. Accounting for inflation, that amounts to a cut in domestic spending. In exchange for this pittance, the Democratic Party accepts a military spending increase that puts the country on track for the highest military budget since World War II.

In practice, a budget that freezes domestic spending while increasing military spending risks the lives of both people in the United States and those who fall victim to U.S. militarism abroad.

The deal includes $886 billion for the military, but that will most likely grow. War funding for the current year wasn’t included in the current deal, but President Joe Biden has requested $106 billion, of which $65 billion is for military purposes (the rest is humanitarian and economic aid and some border funds). If that package passes, the resulting military and war budget would be $965 billion — the highest military budget since WWII.

Legislators haven’t yet managed to come to agreement on the finer points of the budget deal. But the topline for military spending matches the amount set in the military policy bill, the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) that both houses recently passed and President Biden signed; so it’s a good bet that the details will end up matching as well. The yet-to-pass war supplemental includes military funds for Ukraine ($46 billion) and support for Israel’s genocidal attacks on Palestinians ($14 billion), of course. But the basic budget does, too.

The $886 billion budget as outlined in the NDAA underscores........

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