The Air Force’s top civilian leader, Michael Wynne, expressed admiration for Singapore’s defense budgeting system at a Washington media breakfast Tuesday. He said that Singapore’s military forces get a percentage of the country’s gross domestic product, meaning when the GDP goes up, their defense spending follows suit. “Maybe there is something there that we as a nation should look at and think about,” Wynne remarked. He admitted that US taxpayers would have to be convinced of such a move, but he maintains that the military is “showing a bit of tightness.”
President Donald Trump on July 4 signed into law $150 billion in defense funds as part of the tax-and-spending package known as the “One Big, Beautiful Bill” after congressional Republicans approved the legislation in narrow, drawn-out votes earlier this week.