Wednesday: Who Says the Pentagon Can Spend Less?

Here's a quick quiz: which of these groups or individuals have endorsed a plan for cutting the Pentagon budget by $1 trillion over the next 10 years?

• A. Oklahoma Senator Tom Coburn
• B. The bipartisan National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform (a.k.a. the Simpson-Bowles Commission)
• C. A task force that includes the libertarian CATO Institute and Taxpayers for Common Sense
• D. All of the above

Do you know the answer? And do your senators know the answer?

A $1 trillion reduction in the Pentagon budget over the next 10 years sounds like a lot of money, and it is. But the argument that it isn't possible to make those kinds of cuts to the Pentagon budget without compromising its mission just doesn't hold water. Groups and individuals from the left, right, and center of the political spectrum have looked at what is possible and all concluded that Pentagon cuts of approximately $1 trillion over the next 10 years are practical and feasible if the Pentagon is to pay its fair share of bringing down the federal budget deficit.

Today, on the third day of this Week of Action to cut the Pentagon budget, please write your senators and urge them to bring the Pentagon budget back under control.

Then send this action alert to three friends and encourage them to do the same.

Who Says We Should Cut the Pentagon?

Answer:

The answer is D), all of the above.

• See Oklahoma Senator Tom Coburn's proposal to save $1 trillion from the Pentagon budget, which as he points out "the reduced spending from these options…would put the Pentagon back on the level of annual funding it had just five years ago at the height of the Iraq surge."
• See the recommendations from the bipartisan National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform (a.k.a. the Simpson-Bowles Commission.) One of the commission's principles is that "everything must be on the table. In order to achieve real spending discipline, Congress and the President must be willing to cut excess spending wherever they find it."
• A task force that includes the libertarian CATO Institute and Taxpayers for Common Sense: The Sustainable Defense Task Force found nearly $1 trillion in savings by focusing on Pentagon programs based on unreliable or unproven technology, missions that are not cost-effective, assets and capabilities that are not in line with current and emerging military challenges and management reforms that could lower costs.

Have your senators heard the message? Tell your senators to join their colleauges in pushing for meaningful cuts to Pentagon spending.