NORFOLK, Va. — President Biden is requesting nearly $850 billion for the the Department of Defense in 2025.
Of that, more than $120 million is requested for commissaries to provide service members with food savings of more than 25% over what they’d pay for food somewhere else.
The challenge of affording food is something News 3 has covered as recently as last month.
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"It's super easy for us to just come over here and get what we need and go home," said military spouse Kaitlyn Serpa.
News 3 spoke to Serpa as she took advantage of the Patriot’s Pantry food bank in Virginia Beach.
"We're scrounging and there's nothing to eat in the house, but we have children, and we have ourselves to feed. So, this has really been helpful for us," Serpa said.
There is $547 million requested to prevent military suicide.
"The goal is zero and anything above zero is unacceptable," said Patrick Caserta, the father of sailor Brandon Caserta.
It’s an issue the Caserta family has been working to address ever since their son died by suicide in 2018 while stationed in Hampton Roads.
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The 2025 budget proposal also prioritizes housing, requesting more than $3 billion.
Two billion would be used to support family housing and the rest would be used to build unaccompanied housing.
“The FY25 budget request reflects our efforts to balance the department’s priorities under our top-line constraint to maintain a ready, lethal, and combat-credible joint force," said Joint Staff Director of Force Structure, Resources and Assessment Navy Vice Adm. Sara A. Joyner.
Joyner and Undersecretary of Defense Comptroller and Chief Financial Officer Michael J. McCord spoke at a news conference discussing the budget.
They noted, however, the budget’s top line is less than the rate of inflation which means there is no positive real growth in the budget.
While this budget was being presented to Congress, Congress as of March 12 was also still dealing with the FY24 budget and supplemental to fund efforts in Ukraine, Israel and elsewhere.
