The deal struck this week by Rep. Paul Ryan and Sen. Patty Murray has been well received by President Obama,
House Speaker John Boehner, the defense industry, and many people in
the media and the public at large who are tired of Washington’s
budgetary gridlock. No one is popping any champagne corks, but there is a
widespread feeling that any agreement that can eliminate the
uncertainty that has dominated Washington budgetary debates over the
past two years is worth supporting.
But the Ryan/Murray deal can be improved. The Congress and the
president should rethink the need to give the Pentagon over $20 billion
more in fiscal 2014. More than enough money is available under the
budgetary caps established in current law to provide a robust and
forward-looking defense of the United States without this proposed
increase. At roughly $480 billion for the Pentagon budget proper — and
nearly $500 billion when nuclear weapons spending at the Department of
Energy is factored in — current plans are already about $100 billion per year higher than the Cold War average.
One could argue that we live in a vastly different world than we did
during the Cold War, and that there is no reason that we should be
spending a similar amount now as we did then. This is absolutely true.
The world is considerably safer than it was when the U.S. was faced off
against a superpower adversary that had the capability to end life as we
know it, and Pentagon spending should reflect that fact.
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