Pentagon cuts that make sense

[Valin]

Washington Times:

Emily Miller

11/16/12

 

Sen. Tom Coburn is *bucking his own party by exposing specific items to cut in the Pentagon’s $600 billion budget. As Republican leaders battle President Obama over his insistence on taking half the Jan. 2 mandatory sequestration from defense, the Oklahoma Republican on Thursday blew the lid off billions that could be saved without actually undermining our troops.

 

Dr. Coburn labels the Pentagon the “Department of Everything” in his report outlining $67.9 billion in cuts over 10 years. It should guide lawmakers as they begin to consider how to deal with the first $109 billion in spending reductions due Jan. 2 under the terms of the August 2011 debt-ceiling deal. “We are making the point that, if you want to cut another $500 billion out of defense, you can get 15 percent just on things that have nothing to do with defense,” the senator told The Washington Times in an interview Friday. “It’s not hard to cut spending in Washington. It’s hard to get members to cut because they are clueless about the details of the spending and refuse to do the hard work of oversight.”

 

Unlike the usual Washington rhetoric that calls a less-than-requested increase in spending a “cut,” the items Dr. Coburn uncovered would actually result in spending going down each year. That’s important, because each real cut further slows the automatic spending growth to which bureaucrats have grown accustomed. Dr. Coburn applies his scalpel to five main areas: grocery stores ($9 billion), alternative energy ($700 million), education ($15.2 billion), nonmilitary research and development ($6 billion) and overhead and supply services ($37 billion).

(Snip)

 

 

* Not so sure about that

[Rokke]

There are certainly a lot of things in the military that could be cut. Some of it absolutely should be cut. But what needs to be considered in making the cuts, is at what point do you make military service so difficult that no one signs up. We're not there yet, but I suspect the bill will be huge when we have to start paying for a military service no one will voluntarily serve in.

[Valin]

There are certainly a lot of things in the military that could be cut. Some of it absolutely should be cut. But what needs to be considered in making the cuts, is at what point do you make military service so difficult that no one signs up. We're not there yet, but I suspect the bill will be huge when we have to start paying for a military service no one will voluntarily serve in.

 

No real disagreement here. A large military is expensive it goes without saying. So the real question becomes do we want or perhaps a better word would be Need a large military?

Short term, just think of all the really neat stuff the government could get for us by cutting the DoD budget...long term however.....?

Last time I checked the world was still a pretty violent place. But then I've always been a fan of peace through superior firepower.