Congressional Quarterly, May 17th, 2013: House Republican appropriators are preparing to write fiscal 2014 spending bills that would protect spending for the military and homeland security by making deep cuts to domestic programs. Continue Reading…
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News Articles > Deficit Commission, Social Security
Fox News editorial, May 15th, 2013: War spending is unproductive and inflationary….every district in the U.S. has pressing infrastructure, education, health and environmental needs, and the return on the taxpayer’s dollar is much higher when invested on these areas. Continue Reading…
Project on Defense Alternatives, April 4th, 2013: The Pentagon, White House, and Congress are all planning as if the defense budget will jump back next year like sequestration never happened….the Pentagon is expected to request $8.4 billion in FY14 funding for the troubled [F-35] — the same amount that had been planned before sequestration occurred. Continue Reading…
New York Times, March 31st, 2013: there is a new Pentagon reality, and everyone must deal with it. Mr. Hagel, whose acceptance of the need to shrink the Pentagon is in step with Mr. Obama’s self-declared strategy to avoid large overseas land wars, will start to outline a rethinking of military policy to fit smaller budgets. Continue Reading…
Foreign Policy, March 21st, 2013: the number of people outside the Pentagon who think long-term planning for a drawdown is necessary is growing and spreading across the political spectrum. Continue Reading…
Wall Street Journal, March 12th, 2013: Paul Ryan on Tuesday offered his party’s most provocative fiscal framework in years, calling for Medicare and Medicaid overhauls and new limits on defense spending not previously endorsed by party leaders. Continue Reading…
The American Conservative, March 5th, 2013: “readiness” can only mean being ready to start another war….Sequestration seems to be the only way to force a debate in Washington about our grand strategy and about America’s real strengths and weaknesses…..It is the beginning of the real battle against a future of unending wars, loss of our own constitutional freedoms, the creation of new enemies abroad, a declining standard of living, and eventual loss of our Republic—replaced with a bankrupt empire. This is what the real fight is about. Continue Reading…
Foreign Policy’s “Sheathed Sword” blog, March 6th, 2013: The bill increases the funds for operations and maintenance by more than $10 billion….That doesn’t eliminate the sequester, but it raises the baseline from which sequester is measured for the accounts most directly affected. That gives some relief to the services, easing about 25 percent of the pain they see coming. Continue Reading…
New York Times, March 2nd, 2013: By mid-March, Senator Murray and her House Budget Committee counterpart, Representative Paul Ryan of Wisconsin, will produce broad blueprints for spending and tax policy over 10 years….[Ryan’s budget] will lock in the savings from the across-the-board cuts but will shift the targets away from defense. In contrast, Ms. Murray said, the Senate plan will undo the cuts beyond this fiscal year with a mix of tax increases and other spending reductions. Continue Reading…
Military.com, February 28th, 2013: “We have to take a step back and ask ourselves – what kind of Army do we need for the rest of the 21st Century?” he said. Continue Reading…
Washington Post “Post Politics” blog, February 26th, 2013: “….we can realize savings of at least $50 billion to $100 billion per year over 10 years in the Pentagon budget — without compromising national security,” reads the letter….Those signing the letter include conservative groups such as Americans for Tax Reform, the Council for Citizens Against Government Waste and the National Taxpayers Union, as well as left-leaning groups like the U.S. Public Interest Research Group (PIRG), Credo and Progressive Democrats of America. Continue Reading…
Time, February 25th, 2013: The F-35 is a poster child for Pentagon profligacy in a new era of tightening budgets. Continue Reading…
New York Times editorial, February 24th, 2013: the truth is that the military budget not only can be cut, but should be cut. Continue Reading…
Time, February 25th, 2013: “We are spending maybe 45% of the world’s budget on defense. If we drop to 42% or 43%, would we be suddenly in danger of some kind of invasion?” asked Representative Justin Amash, a Michigan Republican and part of a new breed of deficit hawks who talk of spending as a bigger threat than war. “We’re bankrupting our country, and it’s going to put us in danger.” Continue Reading…
New York Post, February 14th, 2013: [Sequestration] trims not just fat, but muscle and bone, too. It’s going to be ugly. But as I’ve watched the Defense Department pull shameful stunts and listened to congressional blather attempting to block sequestration, this defense hawk has become one irate taxpayer. Continue Reading…
Business Week, February 6th, 2013: the next big budget battle due to arrive at month’s end—automatic spending cuts known as “sequestration—threatens to expose the rift between one wing of the party (antitax Republicans) and another (defense Republicans). Continue Reading….
Americans for Tax Reform (Grover Norquist’s outfit), Cost of Government Center, Downsize DC, National Taxpayers Union, R Street Institute, Republican Liberty Caucus, Taxpayers Protection Alliance, and Taxpayers for Common Sense released a letter today calling for “eliminating outdated, Cold War-era weapons; cutting programs the military doesn’t even want; reforming military health care programs; and closing unneeded bases” to save $50-$100 billion a year.
Financial Times, January 23, 2013: , the eventual costs of caring for veterans of the Afghanistan war will exceed $1tn. To put these numbers into perspective, the debate surrounding the fiscal cliff has centred on expenditure cuts over 10 years of $1tn-$2tn. Continue Reading…
National Journal, January 21st, 2013: Defense cuts may be on the table in a new fiscal-cliff deal, as the deadline to avoid sequestration is just weeks away. National Journal’s National Security Insiders say: Go for it. A whopping 80 percent of Insiders said the defense budget, over the next decade, could be reasonably reduced by more than $100 billion. The biggest faction of Insiders, 35 percent, supported cuts between $100 billion and $300 billion. Continue Reading…
US News, January 16th, 2013: Cutting the defense budget absolutely can be done. In fact, it must be done. Continue Reading…
Washington Post blogs, January 7th, 2012: if you want to argue that our current deficits are the result of overspending, then the military budget and the wars need to be the center of your analysis. Continue Reading…
Politico, January 3?, 2013: [On Capitol Hill, Medicaid recipients] are viewed as greed-heads sucking up precious dollars that could be better spent on … defense contractors! Continue Reading…
Rep.s Ellison and Mulvaney, Huffington Post, December 21st, 2012: pursuing savings in the Pentagon’s budget must be one part of the larger–and critical–effort to improve our nation’s fiscal condition. Continue Reading…
Huffington Post, January 3rd, 2013: The first step in a national security reassessment might have been a meaningful examination of national priorities, matching strategies, and whether there are necessary resources to fulfill either. Continue Reading…
Public Accountability Initiative, December 19th, 2012: How the “Fix the Debt” Budget Lobby is Protecting Billions in Defense Contracts for its Corporate Backers. Continue Reading…
Campaign for America’s Future, December 19th, 2012: The President’s latest budget offer slashes a 95-year-old retiree’s Social Security benefits by more than nine percent — and trims the defense budget by less than one percent. Continue Reading…
Eleven Republicans and 11 Democrats called for “substantial defense savings” and cited recent studies that showed $55 billion a year could be cut without harming national security. Continue Reading…
IPS, December 11th, 2012: about $170 billion. Continue Reading…
Defense Department Prepares Plans for Sequestration, American Forces Press Service, December 5th, 2012
Fiscal Cliff Offers Hint at More Defense Cuts, AP, December 5th, 2012: even the fiercest defense hawks acknowledge that the Pentagon faces another financial hit.
Toss Wasteful Defense Weapons Programs Off the Cliff, Rep. Barbara Lee, Huffington Post blog, December 5th, 2012: no serious plan to address the deficit can go forward without defense spending reforms on the table.
Former Defense Officials Call For Military Spending Cuts, Think Progress, December 5th, 2012: In previous eras, increased defense spending may have been required to maintain security. That is no longer the case.
Defense industry acknowledges likelihood of Pentagon budget cuts, Washington Post, December 4th, 2012: some defense industry executives have begun to acknowledge that avoiding significant cuts to weapons programs may be impossible over the long term.
MarketWatch (Wall Street Journal), November 19th, 2012: Honeywell International Inc said Monday it expects the bulk of looming U.S. defense cuts to be implemented, and in a sharp break with rivals said it welcomes the reductions. Continue Reading…