US national security policy in the 117th Congress and a new administration

Yale historian Paul Kennedy defines “imperial overstretch” as a country’s overextension — geographically, economically, or militarily — that inevitably leads to the exhaustion of vital domestic resources and the country’s eventual decline. While the United States has yet to reach this point,  the Department of Defense (DOD) accounts for more than 50 percent of the annual discretionary budget. Coupled with massive spending on COVID-19 relief and economic stimulus, overall U.S. government spending next year could be at highs never before seen. And with a Democratic-controlled House, a narrowly-divided Senate, and the new Biden administration running DOD, defense budgets will certainly be re-examined and squeezed.