Sen. Ben Cardin To Obama: Freeze Military Spending

[laughingliberal]

A Democratic senator urged President Obama on Tuesday to include the military budget in his proposed spending freeze.

"Defense represents a significant part of our discretionary spending in this country. The defense establishment needs to be under fiscal discipline, as do all of our agencies." Sen. Ben Cardin (D-Md.) told reporters in the Capitol. "I don't think defense should be exempt. If there are extraordinary things that occur that require us to respond for national security, we always will be prepared to do that. But to exempt the normal military spending just because it's military, to me, is wrong."

The U.S. government spends more on defense than on all other discretionary spending combined, according to the Congressional Budget office.

The CBO estimated that for fiscal year 2009, the government will spend $584 billion on non-defense discretionary spending. Meanwhile, the U.S. will lay out $657 billion on defense spending. That would make it 4.6 percent of the gross domestic product, the highest share since 1992, when the Cold War ended.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/01/26/sen-ben-cardin-to-obama-f_n_437109.html

Good for him! Somebody needed to say it!

[FiveGoodMen]

1. !

:applause:

[Orangepeel]

2. That's a brave thing for a Senator from Maryland to say

Good for Ben.

[arthritisR_US]

3. how much of the defense spending is going to private contractors/thieves? Damn

straight he should freeze military spending!

[gkhouston]

4. You really don't want to know. The DoD outsources a LOT of stuff. n/t

[Golden Raisin]

36. And are we still doing the

$400 per hammer, $200 flashlight, $600 toilet seat thing?

[arthritisR_US]

48. excellent point! I had forgotten all about that game, grrr. n/t

[Individualist]

5. Bravo Sen. Cardin!

:applause:

[Liberal_Stalwart71]

6. I'm so proud of my senator!

And yes, Ben, I support you 100% and you will be reelection in 2012!!! :)

[Chulanowa]

7. Freeze or better yet, CUT

Hell, just taking out the middleman - the private corporations - would save us BILLIONS.

[Luciferous]

20. +1

[katandmoon]

8. Who knew the mealy mouther had it in him

[RedCloud]

9. How much can't they account for? 5 trillion dollars?

That could fix the economy many times over. Time to screw those pork barrel folks til the cows come home.

[RedCloud]

10. Apparently it was "only" 2.3 trillion dollars.

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/why-we-love-americas-outrageous

[liberation]

33. Oh, well... that makes all the difference ;-)

Not...

[pleah]

11. K&R

[TexasObserver]

12. Recommend

[On the Road]

13. Not Only Froze It Reduced It --

Gradually, under the radar, but during his term the miltary budget went from 4.8% of GDP (1992) to 3.0% (2000).

[slay]

15. Indeed. We have to put a stop to Wars For Profit, and the sooner, the better

which unfortunatly, will NOT happen under this president, who i feel has not only betrayed me, he has betrayed the american people, and now every single american who comes home DEAD because of his surge will know who to blame. we MUST end these wars for profit and Obama declaring any type of military freeze off the table.. well.. i guess the 3rd Bush term continues.. nobody held responsible for Iraq, for wrecking the economy, the dems acting either incompetent or like republicans, i could go on and on but i'm just sick of it all. :(

[laughingliberal]

16. +1 nt

[caraher]

38. Though that was easy to do in th '90s

How much of that reduction in fraction of GDP was the post-Cold War drawdown and how much of it was the growth in the economy?

[Mari333]

14. knr with a chart

and

[Sherman A1]

39. Cool Chart Where did you get it?

[FailureToCommunicate]

49. Love to see Obama pull THIS chart out tonight, right after he say's "I found a place

we could make cuts and shift some funding for new jobs..." ( like a new Civilian Conservation Corps)

Thanks for finding this!

[City Lights]

17. Yes!

Just do it, Mr. President!

[invictus]

18. K&R

[izquierdista]

19. Keep the military budget where it is

But let ANY American citizen be treated at a VA or military hospital.....free of charge. And nuh-uhhh, no weapons spending until the last patient is seen.

[ParkieDem]

21. Agreed.

I often point this out to my conservative friends, who are always calling for "across the board" spending cuts. I tell them I don't have a problem with that, in principle, provided that defense is also included. Just as there are many federal agencies that can "do more with less," so can the Pentagon.

I've said repeatedly that I'd accept a 5% across-the-board spending cut, if defense were included -- that 5% of defense spending would dwarf any other savings from other areas.

[amborin]

22. Kudos to Cardin!

[emsimon33]

23. K&R

[HCE SuiGeneris]

24. Yes

Do it now.

[Smashcut]

25. It's cowardice is what it is.

[Vidar]

26. K&R.

[Owl]

27. K&R

[DisgustedInMN]

28. Freeze? Nice start.

I'd prefer we cut about 50% of their budget as a warm up to the real cuts.

Fuck the war pigs.

[Blue_Tires]

29. as usual, i'm betting this will get ZERO attention from the media

but they will cheerlead chiseling down social programs and regulatory agencies down to two guys in an office with a fax machine

[Lorien]

30. It's a simple choice; save America or kill more brown people to make investors

richer. Let's hope that Obama can make the right one for a change.

[mike_c]

31. freeze it hell-- CUT the military budget by 2/3 AT LEAST....

The U.S. is going the way of the Soviet Union-- over-extending itself on hapless and counter-productive military misadventures around the world. It's time to rein in that beast before it drains all of our resources.

[harun]

32. That's certainly worth a K&R.

[Stumbler]

34. A simple solution:

Crack down on war profiteering, specifically the use of private mercenaries. Any college student who's read The Prince will remember what Machiavelli said: "...any ruler who keeps his state dependent upon mercenaries will never have real peace or security, for they are disorganized, undisciplined, ambitious, & faithless. ...they have no tie of devotion, no motive for taking the field except their meager pay, and this is not enough to make them willing to die for him."

That said, I think today's mercs are quite well organized, and thanks to our bloated defense budget, are given much more than "meager pay." The point I'm trying to raise, is that they have no ties of loyalty for the nation they are supposedly fighting for. And when their pay is cut, they'll prove to be the greedy, opportunistic cowards they really are.

[amandabeech]

53. If a leader can't convince citizens that the war is important enough that an army must be raised

through a draft, then that leader should forget about that war.

Using mercenaries allows governments to go off to war on a whim and stay at war long after the war makes sense.

Limit the ability of the government to hire private contractors and you'll see a lot less warmaking.

[Eyerish]

35. K&R

[bvar22]

37. Better yet, CUT Military Spending by at least 50%.

:patriot:

[Freddie Stubbs]

40. Congress controls appropriations. They keep increasing military spending

[makemyday]

41. Don't just freeze it...Cut it!

Senator Ben Cardin makes me proud.

Is freezing it enough No! Not unless it means putting a stop to the occupation of Iraq and Afghanistan and the spending for military actions there.

There is no end to the "Wars" because there is no end to the social/political agenda being substituted for what is being claimed as necessary for national security.

If I were to urge anything with respect to government spending in this depressed economy, I would urge to cut defense spending 80% in the budget and cut all other government agency spending by 50%.

Defense (Military) spending is way out of hand. Defense contractors have been raking it in, 'making money, hand over fist.' Their lobbying efforts keep the defense budget increases rolling. There's no excuse for...except greed.

[SlingBlade]

42. Yea, That will happen right after Hell Freezes Over !

American Empire can not accept a freeze on military spending

[change_notfinetuning]

43. Good luck! Obama is this/close to defense contractors and you can hardly

stop Congress from adding to the mix, regularly funding programs that even the Pentagon says it doesn't need.

You all mean well, but let's get real. There's a better chance of getting single payer health care next week than cutting, or even freezing, the defense budget. Now y'all go put those flag pins on your lapel and be good boys and girls. Next stop's Afghanistan, so put down your books and pick up a gun. We're gonna have a whole lotta fun.

[frylock]

44. k to the motherfuckin r

homeboy

[Alias Dictus Tyrant]

45. Most of the defense budget is spent on personnel

If they were not maintaining a huge active force scattered about the planet, the US DoD would be able to save an enormous amount of money.

Most of the defense budget ends up paying for people. Stop sending tens or hundreds of thousands of people to various countries for no clear purpose and DoD expenses would plummet. The primary downside is that it would increase unemployment by another million or so.

[bdamomma]

46. wonderful thing to say to freeze military spending but it will never happen.

[defendandprotect]

47. Yes . . . why not try the OBVIOUS . ..!!! In fact we can cut by 28% if we merge services!!!

As all other nations have done!!

[Rosa Luxemburg]

50. Hurrah!

[pasto76]

51. No budget discusson can be legit if you dont include defense spending!

barney frank says this all the time and its true. We can "reduce the deficit" almost immediately if we stop wasting money in Iraq. My opinon is still held in reserve regarding Afghanistan.

SGT PASTO

[winyanstaz]

52. Freeze it? Hell cut it off at the knees!!!

We could pay for a public option easily with that kind of savings!

[Jamastiene]

54. K&R