Senators Question Pentagon Waste and Spending
By Jim Cason on 05/09/2013 @ 07:00 PM
This week, powerful senators from both major political parties suggested that the projected cuts in planned Pentagon spending over the next few years are likely to remain in place for some time in part because of the Pentagon's poor record of controlling spending.
The Pentagon, meanwhile, escalated it's own rhetorical warnings about the impact of the combined spending reductions from the Budget Control Act and the sequester. In a series of Congressional hearings, Pentagon officials used words like "irresponsible" and "devastating" to describe the cuts.
Sen. McCain Criticizes "profligate" Pentagon
The Senate, however, is not longer buying this argument. “I think one of the reasons that members of both parties are willing to allow this sequestration to proceed is a widespread belief that a profligate Department of Defense is unwilling to rein in runaway costs on underperforming programs,” declared Arizona Senator John McCain in a hearing this week.
Across the political aisle, Senator Dick Durbin is also asking some hard questions about Pentagon spending, including the new F-35 jet fighter.
“The F-35 Joint Strike Fighter is the premier argument for revisiting our acquisition policy. We’re deep in the sauce when it comes to some of these projects and whether they will ever meet the defense needs of our nations,” Durbin said. The Illinois Senator also acknowledged, in an interview with Politico, that the military contractor's success in dividing up the manufacturing of the F-35 among many different congressional districts will make cutting off funding for this program more difficult
Senator Durbin's comments are particularly important because he is the new chair of the subcommittee on military spending of the Senate Appropriations Committee.
A Highly Militarized Society
Military contractors are coming under well deserved scrutiny. Earlier this month, Colorado Representative Mike Coffman wrote the chair of a key appropriations committee a letter highlighting ways in which Pentagon spending could be cut. That will be a massive job.
Military contractors continue to rake in the largest amount of money from government contractors, according to a new study by Bloomberg Government. Of the $516 billion in contracts that the federal government let out in 2012, fully one-third of the money went two five Pentagon contractors: Lockheed Martin, Boeing, General Dynamics, Raytheon and Northrop Grumman.
Perhaps the most amazing conclusion in the Bloomberg report is that Pentagon contracts accounted for two-thirds of all of the government's private-sector spending measured in this study. The longterm work of demilitarizing our society will require sustained lobbying and also careful attention to make sure that theindividuals impacted by this transition are provided support as our country moves to a more peaceful economy.
I heard more testimonies to the importance of this transition during consultations by colleague Katherine Philipson has been holding with our supporters in some key states. The vast sums of money our country is spending on the military is resulting in many other important programs being starved for resources.
While the cuts to planned Pentagon spending to date have primarily focused on planned growth, other areas of federal spending that help local communities are already seeing real cuts in spending that result in real cuts in services. As we talk with people around the country, we are hearing stories of education programs for children that are shutting down, or families that rely on food getting fewer meals (and faith communities often struggling to provide more) and of housing programs that are making painful choices between people in need.
Your senators need to also hear these stories over the next few months.
