The Congressional Budget Office projects acquisition alone exceeds $1 trillion — before operations. That's roughly what the United States spent on all discretionary defense over the last five years combined. The strategic play here is straightforward: whoever controls the appropriations language controls which contractors get paid, and a $1.2 trillion commitment front-loads defense spending in ways that crowd out every domestic priority for a generation. Congress should be asking hard questions about cost controls before a single dollar is authorized — that's the Article I job.