Fiscal weakness undermines security

The Washington Times ^ | November 13, 2005 | William Hawkins

[Willie Green]

As Congress struggles to complete work on the 2006 budget, the White House tells the Pentagon to cut between $13 billion and $15 billion from the 2007 defense budget and billions more in coming years.

The military is in combat in Iraq and Afghanistan, has what Robert Kaplan calls "imperial grunts" in scores of countries fighting terrorism and protecting American interests and must prepare against increasingly dangerous and assertive rogue states, unstable alliances and rising or resurgent powers. The Bush administration proposing defense cuts raises serious questions about both its fiscal policy and military strategy.

The administration wants to reduce the budget deficit while continuing to cut taxes. Even though the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) has forecast a $341 billion deficit for 2006, Republican leaders are still considering a new tax cut package of up to $70 billion.

But mandatory social-welfare spending is projected to account for 56 percent of outlays in 2007. The president himself made this worse by pushing through a new Medicare prescription drug benefit, which the Heritage Foundation estimates will cost $37.4 billion in 2006 and $52.5 billion in 2007. Mandatory spending increases squeeze so-called discretionary accounts that fund the legitimate core functions of government, including national security, infrastructure and disaster relief.

[kaktuskid]

And we all know that the Pentagon is a model "efficient spending"! (not)

[Prime Choice]

Look on the bright side! With all this pork, we're sure to be safe from the Islamofascists...right?

[newgeezer]

Sometimes I wonder if the reall difference between Democrat Socialists and Republican Socialists is that the Republicans -- with their slower, slightly less painful march toward all-out socialism -- are just prolonging and deepening the agony before the next revolution.