If you can't dazzle them with brilliance

...

Congress has so complex-ified the defense budget and stuffed it with spending gimmicks, it is difficult to understand just how much is being spent on national defense and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. It has become such a jumble that some journalists seem to rely upon press releases from the Senate and House Appropriations Committees and the Senate and House Armed Services Committees to report on the budget. Doing so is a serious mistake; the committees’ numbers are highly misleading, and sometimes have absolutely nothing to do with what is actually spent on defense.

For example, on Sept. 21, the Senate Appropriations Committee announced the completion of the House-Senate Conference Committee to resolve differences in two very dissimilar versions of the Department of Defense Appropriations bills the House and Senate had passed earlier in the year. Describing the final result, the Senate Appropriations Committee stated “The bill provides $436.6 billion in new discretionary spending authority for the Department of Defense for functions under the Defense subcommittee’s jurisdiction, including $70 billion in additional appropriations to fund operations related to the Global War on Terror (GWOT).”[1]

The next day, the House Appropriations Committee said in its press release that the bill’s total was “$377.6 billion (PLUS a $70.0 billion bridge fund for military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan).”[2] $377.6 billion plus $70.0 billion equals $447.6 billion, not the $436.6 billion the Senate Appropriations Committee cited. There’s an $11 billion difference in describing the same bill!

Both statements are technically correct and quite misleading at the same time...

An excellent analysis, and about as good a breakdown as we can make.

The total? Far over a half trillion dollars for the D.o'D. for next year. The full .pdf here, but CDI's breakdown should be read first.