Question: Pentagon Spending

Pentagon spending has doubled in the last decade, with contractors getting much of the increase. Under the deficit reduction deal, the Pentagon has to cut back from its planned expansions to a budget close to what it spent in 2007. Will you support cutting the Pentagon budget back to 2007 levels?

FCNL’S PERSPECTIVE:

As a Quaker lobby, we believe that War Is Not the Answer. We are working for at least a $1 trillion cut in core Pentagon spending over the next 10 years. Although we think the Pentagon budget should be cut by a lot more than that, a $1 trillion cut would essentially reduce the growth in Pentagon spending and bring spending back to 2007 levels. It would be a tremendous first step.

Congressional hearings and news stories have revealed massive waste and bureaucratic confusion in the Pentagon. The Pentagon’s books aren’t even capable of being audited, and the retired general hired to catalog all of the Pentagon’s contractors couldn’t begin to list the thousands of contractors that provide services that are often redundant or unneeded.

The Pentagon, unlike other federal agencies, has for decades been given free rein to increase its budget from year to year. As a result, Pentagon spending has doubled in the last 10 years, with more increases planned. In 2011, Congress passed legislation that will result in nearly a $1 trillion cut in projected Pentagon spending. Now, the secretary of defense, the president and many members of Congress are arguing that a $1 trillion cut is too much.

Yet libertarian, taxpayer and peace groups have identified about $1 trillion in cuts to Pentagon spending that would reduce the deficit and still leave the United States spending more on its military than any other country in the world.

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