Even Defense Spending Can be Cut
September 13, 2012 at 1:31 pm in News by Dustin Siggins 5 Comments
With the fight over sequestration continuing and both parties navigating the legislative waters of trying to overturn various parts of the Budget Control Act, the coming “cuts” to the growth of spending at the Department of Defense (DoD) have come increasingly under close examination by Members of Congress, especially Republicans. While every department in the federal government should be taking at least a haircut (and others should be eliminated entirely), the DoD is a unique department for two reasons: first, many Republican politicians simply see defense spending as untouchable, something grassroots conservatives often disagree with. The second reason defense spending is unique is that military defense of the country is actually a constitutional responsibility of the federal government, and as such sequestration’s cuts could have a negative impact on the defense of our nation.
However, in an interview with CBS News caught by Right Scoop, Senator Tom Coburn (R-OK) has highlighted some spending at the Pentagon that even the most ardent defender of the DoD should support eliminating. This spending includes a study on aliens and on-base micro-breweries, as well as the removal of skunks from golf courses on bases. Oh, and a caffeine intake iPhone application and Twitter slang.
According to CBS, Coburn has a report coming that will show $85 billion could be cut from the Pentagon over ten years. This is in addition to other reports Coburn has released with more significant reforms to defense spending, such as reformation of the contracting system. While $85 billion is not a massive amount of money compared to our debt (over $16 trillion) or the budget of the Pentagon (over $500 billion), neither is $8.5 billion annually something to ignore. As the debate over sequestration continues, credit should be given to Coburn for finding ways to cut defense spending that will not harm America’s ability to defend itself.
I believe America’s Military is needed to be Strong, Up to date and Strong enough to defend and keep America and Its Allies.
Saying that I think all Government Has way to much WASTE ! we can do much by having our Representatives in House and Senate READ Appropriation Bills and find out whats in them before voting on them. If it is not needed we should not implement the things that are not needed !
Tell our Employee’s the Government to Stop the Waste !
I agree with Frank. I’m sure Congress can sit down, get together, and figure out a way to cut all wasteful spending in our government. So…… let’s get to it and do it!
I didn’t know the Constitution authorized the U.S. to use taxpayers money to defend our “allies”- and I’m certain a lot of the people we have been defending are not our allies.
I hate to sound like a bleeding liberal here, but the hyper-conservative right (in this I include the TEA Party) needs to take responsibility for this. I see a lot of idealistic talk from posters here about how they believe government should run or how ‘the founding fathers intended government to run’. The founding fathers intended their government to compromise for the mutual benefit of all. Granted, there has been a lot of corruption on both sides of the isle since the career politician was born, but in the end a compromise was made and life went on.
When Congress passed the Budget Control Act, it was because they were determined to find a solution to the debt crisis and the failure of our economy. They made themselves an ultimatum, pass a proper budget or sweeping cuts that no one wanted would take effect.
But then rose an extremely vocal minority that was angry at the government for not doing their job for too long, and rightly so. The specific agenda of the TEA Party was no raise in taxes, no matter what, and the GOP was all too happy to support that.
When the left offered compromises, the right wouldn’t budge, in support for the TEA Party. When the left offered a compromise like $9 of spending cuts to $1 of new taxes, the right would not budge, saying that all plans had to be 100% spending cuts.
So, inevitably, their ultimatum failed and they had to face the axe that they all had hated. They had listened to their hyper-conservative base and had stood steadfast against compromise, to all of our detriment.
So they end up passing a bunch of half-cocked stopgap measures to try to postpone it til they can use it as political fodder when they run for their next election. By then it will be too late.
The TEA Party has the the GOP and Congress in general afraid to reach over the aisle to compromise. Ted Cruz won his election in Texas in part because he painted Dewhurst as someone who would ‘compromise’ with Democrats. That is how government runs.
Once again, I bring up how much I read people discussing ‘how the founding fathers intended government to be run’ in the comments here. The founding fathers may not have intended for Federal Government to be as big as it is, but they DEFINITELY did not intend for a one-party rule. If any positive bills are going to be passed, they will be passed with bipartisanship and mutual understanding. When you rabble-rouse about ‘Obummer/Stalin/Lenin/Marx’ and praise media like Dinesh D’Souza’s film (which is clearly a hyperbole wrapped in a political agenda), you are hindering compromise and hindering government from governing.
Don’t be surprised when strong-arming government doesn’t work for the betterment of the country. ‘We the people’ is really just a minority, and ‘hyper-’ anything is bad for the country. Promote compromise and centerism.
Heed this warning, or become irrelevant!!!
Why does the Tea Party speak in terms of a WAR-TIME budget for the military? President Eisenhower even knew better, and reductions in Military spending would need to be addressed! For Pete’s sake, the US spends more the the top 13 Countries combined on it’s military, and 5X more then China.
None of the POLITICALLY ACTIVE Grassroots supporters I know will have anything to do with the Tea Party until it changes its stance on necessary cuts across the board! Balancing the budget and cutting spending are nothing more then a PIPE-DREAM, unless we look at the bigger picture! We must quit spreading ourselves too thin, and concentrate on making America strong again, not following the same path as ROME, but forging a Fiscally Conservative path to economic freedom!
It’s time to be realistic about the numbers…
“The American people should reject the hype about so called defense “cuts” from both sides of the political spectrum. When the Obama administration calls for an 18% increase in 2013 military spending, those who propose a 20% increase portray this as a reduction!
Even the supposedly draconian cuts called for in the “sequestration” budget bill would keep military spending at 2006 levels when adjusted for inflation, which is about as high in terms of GDP as during World War II. It’s also more than the top 13 foreign countries spend on defense combined. Furthermore, sequestration only cuts military spending for one year after taking effect. In future years Congress is free to reinstate higher military spending levels– so under sequestration the most drastic case would mean spending $5.2 trillion instead of $5.7 trillion over the next decade.” – Ron Paul