# Cato Scholar: Pentagon Budget Misses the Point 

Cato senior fellow Katherine Thompson argues the spending increase without structural reforms on munitions expenditure is an expensive band-aid.

June 10, 2026 • News Releases 

House Republicans today proposed a $1.072 trillion Pentagon spending bill for FY2027, with a massive surge in munitions funding in response to shortages in U.S. stockpiles as a result of the ongoing war in Iran and significant drawdowns to arm Ukraine.

Cato senior fellow [Katherine Thompson](https://www.cato.org/people/katherine-thompson) argues the spending increase without structural reforms on munitions expenditure is an expensive band-aid. In [a recent commentary](https://responsiblestatecraft.org/missile-shortage-military/), she traces the munitions crisis to unchecked use of Presidential Drawdown Authority and a bipartisan failure to exercise strategic restraint — problems that more spending alone cannot fix.

Thompson is available to discuss what meaningful reforms Congress should attach to any munitions funding and what a fiscally responsible, strategically sound approach to readiness looks like.

Please contact Cato PR at [pr@​cato.​org](mailto:pr@cato.org).

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