October 24, 2010
INVESTMENT?:
Pentagon Mostly Gets a Pass From Deficit Hawks (NATHAN HODGE, 10/23/10, WSJ)
Defense spending, the largest discretionary portion of the federal budget, is expected to top $700 billion in fiscal-year 2011. In a new analysis of defense-spending trends, Anthony Cordesman of the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington said Mr. Gates's efficiency drive "will at most buy time" for the Pentagon as pressure mounts on the budget.Efforts are now under way in Washington to set the terms of the debate on defense spending. Recently, more than 50 lawmakers—led by Reps. Barney Frank (D., Mass.) and Ron Paul (R., Texas) and Sen. Ron Wyden (D., Ore.)—sent a letter to the National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform, a bipartisan panel tasked with delivering recommendations on the federal debt, urging its members to consider reductions to military spending. In a conference call, Mr. Frank said it was time to rein in "America's excessive military engagement with the world."
Conservative groups, however, have pushed back. The American Enterprise Institute, the Foreign Policy Initiative and the Heritage Foundation issued a report titled "Defending Defense" that argues for preserving investment in the military.
The Long War is over, time to return to normal defense spending...meaning hardly any.
