Expert: Rubio's defense boost could cost $1 trillion

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Sen. Marco Rubio's plan to fund the military at pre-sequestration levels could cost an additional $1 trillion over the next 10 years, and even that might not be enough to make good on all the promises he laid out in a campaign speech on Thursday, according to one defense analyst.

The GOP presidential contender said during a speech in New Hampshire that, if elected commander in chief, he would return to the "fiscally sustainable budget baseline proposed by Secretary of Defense Robert Gates in 2012 before sequestration took effect."

Benjamin Friedman, a defense research fellow at the Cato Institute, said the exact cost of Rubio's plan depends on how long he would extend the spending level of the fiscal 2012 budget request, which laid out the framework for 10 years. If Rubio would spend at the 2012 pace for the next 10 years, through 2026, the country would spend $1 trillion more on defense than it would under sequestration caps, Friedman said.

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