The US Marine Corp is a branch of the military that has existed since 1775 and became part of the Department of the Navy since 1834. Because they are considered the Department of the Navy the amount of funding they have is based around how much the Navy wishes to give to the Marine Corps.
In 2010 the Navy requested nearly 180 billion as their budget and, of that 180 billion, only about 29 billion was set to go to the Marine Corp. Marines are first-in and last-out of any combat situation and, compared to the near 245 billion requested by the Army, is even less then 10% of the Army's budget.
I say we need to seperate the Navy and the Marines and give them seperate budgets so that we can give our frontline soldiers the equipment they need to get the job done.