Pentagon funding seems to be the only things Congress is always in agreement on. Changing course would mean real reform and genuine accountability, starting with serious cuts to a budget for which “bloated” is far too kind an adjective.
By Mandy Smithberger and William Hartung, Tom Dispatch
Even as Congress moves to increase the Pentagon budget well beyond the astronomical levels proposed by the Biden administration, a new report from the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) has outlined three different ways to cut $1 trillion in Department of Defense spending over the next decade. A rational defense policy could yield far more in the way of reductions, but resistance from the Pentagon, weapons contractors, and their many allies in Congress would be fierce.
After all, in its consideration of the bill that authorizes such budget levels for next year, the Democratic-controlled House of Representatives recently voted to add $25 billion to the already staggering $750 billion the Biden administration requested for the Pentagon and related work on nuclear weapons at the Department of Energy. By any measure, that’s an astonishing figure, given that the request itself was already far higher than spending at the peaks of the Korean and Vietnam Wars or President Ronald Reagan’s military buildup of the 1980s.

In any reasonable world, such a military budget should be considered both unaffordable and deeply unsuitable when it comes to addressing the true threats to this country’s “defense,” including cyberattacks, pandemics, and the devastation already being wrought by climate change. Worst of all, providing a blank check to the military-industrial-congressional complex ensures the continued production of troubled weapon systems like Lockheed Martin’s exorbitantly expensive F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, which is typically behind schedule, far above projected costs, and still not considered effective in combat.
Changing course would mean real reform and genuine accountability, starting with serious cuts to a budget for which “bloated” is far too kind an adjective.
Three Options for Reductions
At the request of Senate Budget Committee Chair Bernie Sanders (I-VT), the CBO devised three different approaches to cutting approximately $1 trillion (a decrease of a mere 14%) from the Pentagon budget over the next decade. Historically, it could hardly be a more modest proposal. After all, without any such plan, the Pentagon budget actually did decrease by 30% between 1988 and 1997…
Recent Posts
Chicago Mayoral Candidate Brandon Johnson’s Plan To Reduce Violence And Rein In The Police At The Same Time
March 26, 2023
Take Action Now With public safety front and center in Chicago’s runoff mayoral election, Brandon Johnson, a public school teacher, has emerged as a…
Starbucks Workers Build Steam
March 25, 2023
Take Action Now Since last fall, the union effort has increased its capacity to exert pressure on the corporate mega-giant—including in a March 22…
Banking Crisis 3.0: Time To Change The Rules Of The Game
March 24, 2023
Take Action Now What constituted a radical departure from capitalist principles in the last financial crisis was not “nationalization” but an…
Behind The #StopCopCity Domestic Terrorism Warrants
March 24, 2023
Take Action Now “Most of the criminal defense lawyers I have spoken with are indicating that there is no individualized suspicion in any of these…