The Hill

The 2012 spending plan the Pentagon will deliver to Capitol Hill on Monday will feature few surprises, but it will make clear that the post-9/11 military spending spree has ended, congressional aides and analysts say.

Defense Secretary Robert Gates already has revealed the Pentagon will seek $553 billion in its 2012 Pentagon budget plan — the largest request ever — and slower growth than planned over the next four years. He also has revealed proposals to end several major weapons programs, including the Marine Corps’ Expeditionary Fighting Vehicle (EFV).

That means the spending plan “will be anti-climactic in the broad sense,” according to one senior House defense aide.

But the spending plan will make clear that the Pentagon will no longer be spending money at the rapid rate seen in the years after the terrorist attacks of 2001.

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