Members of Congress, who passed a budget resolution last week, claim that the budget supports our current and former service members in the military. They would point to a $24 billion per year increase in defense spending as evidence that they intend to do right by the troops. However, the details tell a very different story.
The budget resolution fails our service members in four ways. First, the budget spends money in an inefficient and ludicrous way. The increase in military spending is made possible by a $38 billion increase using a budget gimmick called the Overseas Contingency Operations (OCO) account. OCO is an account that was originally created to fund the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, but is now being used for all kinds of military activities. However, OCO cannot be used for long term projects, and its existence has become political.
Last year, the House Budget Committee recognized OCO’s faults by calling the account a “backdoor loophole that undermines the integrity of the budget process”. By providing money through a method that may trigger sequestration and may be not be available in future years, Congress is setting our military up for failure. Congress should serve our service members by compelling the Pentagon to more clearly define its priorities. For example, it should scale back its plans with regards to outdated weapons (see our nuclear weapon arsenal), programs that don’t work (see our missile defense programs), programs that are horrendously over budget (see the $1.6 billion program now projected to cost over $110 billion) and programs that have elements of all of the above (see the F-35). Congress can support our troops by providing leadership, not just by throwing more money at structural problems.
Second, these budget cuts will have a negative effect on our veterans when they return home. The budget resolution includes $496 billion in non-defense budget cuts. Veterans who served since 2001 are more likely to be unemployed than the general population, and some will have to rely on increasingly overstrained public services. A half trillion dollar cut to these essential services will directly affect our veterans.
For example, the Veterans Affairs (VA) system will have to make do with an increasing veteran population, but with a flat budget – that means less spending per service member. The budget resolution has already resulted in an appropriations bill passed by the House that would fund the Veterans Administration at a level $1.5 billion below the President’s request. According to American Legion, this budget cut would “deny medical care to the equivalent of 70,000 veterans and eliminate funding for four major construction projects in St. Louis, MO., Perry Point, MD., and Alameda and French Camp, CA”. These budget cuts hurt our veterans.
Third, the budget resolution will impact the families of current service members. While our troops are serving abroad, their families will suffer from these cuts at home. Some service members’ children will attend schools that will have to cut back on teachers. While our troops will ride in costly military equipment, their families at home will be at risk due to the U.S.’s crumbling infrastructure – made worse with additional budget cuts.
Finally, the budget resolution perversely cuts funds for programs that prevent conflict. One of the best ways to serve our troops is to promote and protect peace around the world. The programs funded through the State and Foreign Operations appropriations bill do this essential peacebuilding work. For example, the Complex Crises Fund allows the State Department and U.S. AID to rapidly deploy resources to emerging crises and has helped mitigate violence in Kenya, Sri Lanka, Kyrgyzstan, Cote D’Ivoire and Tunisia. Congress should support our troops by backing these programs that preserve peace.
The budget resolution absolutely fails to do right by our service members. Funding defense through questionable budget loopholes endangers proper long-term planning in the Pentagon. Spending money on costly weapons programs with a questionable purpose fails our troops in the field. Cuts to essential non-defense services fail the families of service members and returning veterans. Congress should scrap their current plan and adopt one that supports our troops and the country they have sworn to protect.