DEFENCE BUDGET

Press, Volume C, Issue 29657, 30 October 1961, Page 10

DEFENCE BUDGET

Spending To Rise

WASHINGTON, October 27. The United States would spend more on defence next year. President Kennedy said yesterday. But, he said, he would try to present a balanced budget for the fiscal year of 1963.

The President spoke to a Cabinet meeting in the White House, which was attended also by heads of United States Federal agencies and departments. His remarks were contained in a statement issued to reporters. He said military expenditures “will necessarily rise next year.”

His statement came a few days after the DeputyDefence Secretary, Mr Roswell Gilpatric, said in a speech that defence spending for the current year, totalling about 47,000 million dollars, could be expected to rise yearly unless there was a significant reduction in international tension. The President spoke on the outlook for the present fiscal year and next year. He urged officials to use caution, care, and minimum staffs on Government work and projects in the current year, which began on July 1.

He did not disclose the deficit on the Federal Budget, but said it was expected to be much smaller than the 12,400 million-dollar deficit incurred in the 1959 fiscal year under President Eisenhower.

But the White House press secretary, Mr Pierre Salinger, told reporters he “would not quarrel” with a prediction of a deficit about 6,750 million dollars.