Anti-War.com & StopNATO & Arn Specter / The Nuclear Review – 2010-11-22 18:34:13
Deficit Commission’s Proposal: $100 Billion Military Cut
Jason Ditz / Anti-War.com
(November 11, 2010) — The interim proposal for the US deficit commission is said to seek a $100 billion cut in planned military spending over the next five years, with cuts centered around weapons programs but also focusing on health care costs and overseas bases.
Though such a cut would be enormous for any other military on the planet, it is actually comparatively paltry for the impossibly large US defense budget, and indeed will likely only be a fraction of the size the military’s budget will grow over that period.
And even this assumes that the cuts pass at all, as they will undoubtedly be controversial as President Obama and a number of top Republican Congressmen are trying to out-hawk one another, and talks seem to be centering around next year’s military budget exceeding three quarters of a trillion dollars.
But the cuts shy away from the massive military expenditures of America’s overseas adventures and the enormous nuclear weapons arsenal, and even $100 billion over five years would have little impact on America’s budget deficit. With a number of incoming Tea Party Congressmen centering their campaigns around a balanced budget it seems these minor cuts, difficult though they may be to get passed, will need to be increased dramatically if they are to have lasting impact on the budget.
Deficit Commission’s Proposal: $100 Billion Military Cut
Nathan Hodge / Wall Street Journal
WASHINGTON (November 12, 2010) — The deficit commission’s interim proposal to cut $100 billion in military spending, if adopted, would take a toll on weapons programs, health-care benefits and overseas bases.
Secretary of Defense Robert Gates has already launched a drive to eliminate $100 billion in what he calls “unnecessary costs” in the next five years. Those savings were designed to be plowed back into weapons procurement and other accounts. The panel is floating a proposal to apply the savings to deficit reduction instead.
“This is a pretty heavy hit to the defense industry,” said Loren Thompson, chief operating officer of the Lexington Institute think tank and a defense industry consultant.
“Applying the savings Gates has promised to deficit reduction would take money away from the department that Gates was planning to use for modernization — meaning weapons purchases, for the most part.”
As part of the $100 billion reduction, the panel suggested possible cuts to specific weapons programs, including the Marine Corps’ Expeditionary Fighting Vehicle, the Army’s Ground Combat Vehicle and one version of the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter. Those cancellations could contribute to an across-the-board, 15% procurement cut by 2015.
Lawmakers Back Nuclear Weapons Budget Boost
StopNATO
(October 4, 2010) — Rather than being cautious about Nuclear developments and funding the Obama administration has allocated funds for Nuclear Weapon development at The Sandia National Laboratories in New Mexico.
Further, Secretary of State Clinton feels these developments support the New START Treaty with Russia. “I look forward to the vote in the lame duck session that will once again demonstrate the Senate joining all of its predecessors in years past to continue to support arms control [treaties],” she said
This US policy to continue to proliferate nuclear weapons strongly contradicts the President’s call for a “nuclear-free-world” and the calls by thousands of activists around the world for nuclear disarmament. Here’s what activist Greg Mello said.
“These are not the priorities that would put people to work, provide health care or education, protect the environment, or halt what most ordinary people understand to be a continuing economic decline, with no end in sight,” Los Alamos Study Group Director Greg Mello said (Korte, Associated Press).
Lawmakers Back Nuclear Weapons Budget Boost
Arn Specter / The Nuclear Review
Once again Obama and the military are endangering the world by promoting nuclear proliferation rather than peaceful co-coexistence with other nations.
WASHINGTON (October 4, 2010) — A continuing budget resolution to keep the US government operating through early December provides a $624 million boost in nuclear weapons funding for the new budget year beyond the amount appropriated in fiscal 2010, the Associated Press reported Friday (see GSN, July 22; Tim Korte, Associated Press/Alamogordo Daily News, Oct. 1).
President Obama last week signed the resolution to fund federal activities for the first two months of fiscal 2011, which began Friday, Federal News Radio reported. The resolution continues only through Dec. 3 (Jolie Lee, Federal News Radio, Oct. 3).
The funding boost for the National Nuclear Security Administration represented a victory for the Obama administration, which sought the money as part of a planned elevation in nuclear weapons spending over five years, according to AP. (See GSN, Feb. 19; Korte, Associated Press).
The resolution enables a significant boost in spending for work on the Chemistry and Metallurgy Research Replacement building at the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico, the Albuquerque Journal reported Friday (see GSN, Aug. 17). The facility was projected to cost $4 billion, but its final expense was still uncertain (John Fleck, Albuquerque Journal, Oct. 1).
“This bill is very good for Sandia and Los Alamos national labs because it strongly supports the key stockpile stewardship work they do,” Senator Jeff Bingaman (D-NM) said in a press release. “It is a sign of how important the labs are and will remain to our national security,” AP quoted him as saying.
Most other branches of the federal government received the same level of funding under the short-term bill as they had in the previous budget cycle, Bingaman said. He added that the NNSA spending increase would “lend strong support” to maintenance of the US nuclear arsenal as lawmakers prepare to consider ratification of a new nuclear arms control treaty with Russia (see GSN, Sept. 29; Korte, Associated Press).
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton linked the spending increase to an administration bid to win ratification of the pact, the Journal reported. “I look forward to the vote in the lame duck session that will once again demonstrate the Senate joining all of its predecessors in years past to continue to support arms control [treaties],” she said (Fleck, Albuquerque Journal).
One independent watchdog said the funds could be better spent elsewhere, AP reported.
“These are not the priorities that would put people to work, provide health care or education, protect the environment, or halt what most ordinary people understand to be a continuing economic decline, with no end in sight,” Los Alamos Study Group Director Greg Mello said (Korte, Associated Press).
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/stopnato/message/47206
Lawmakers Back Nuclear Weapons Budget Boost
StopNATO
(October 4, 2010) — Rather than being cautious about Nuclear developments and funding the Obama administration has allocated funds for Nuclear Weapon development at The Sandia National Laboratories in New Mexico.
Further, Secretary of State Clinton feels these developments support the New START Treaty with Russia. “I look forward to the vote in the lame duck session that will once again demonstrate the Senate joining all of its predecessors in years past to continue to support arms control [treaties],” she said
This US policy to continue to proliferate nuclear weapons strongly contradicts the President’s call for a “nuclear-free-world” and the calls by thousands of activists around the world for nuclear disarmament. Here’s what activist Greg Mello said.
“These are not the priorities that would put people to work, provide health care or education, protect the environment, or halt what most ordinary people understand to be a continuing economic decline, with no end in sight,” Los Alamos Study Group Director Greg Mello said (Korte, Associated Press).
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