Issue Position: Defense Spending

Issue Position

In this era of national belt tightening, the United States needs to move toward a policy of "smart defense spending," a term used by former Defense Secretary Robert Gates who argues we can eliminate national security risks without adding to the huge defense budgets of recent times. I believe the richest nation in the world need not choose between our children's future and defending our country. Rather, we need to make choices, sometimes difficult ones, in how we accomplish those goals.

The Pentagon's budget has increased for an unprecedented 14 straight years, and more than 50% over the past 10 years. In fact, the Department of Defense cannot give a complete accounting of how it spends billions of dollars. This is no longer acceptable. Including the supplementary spending on Iraq and Afghanistan, the U.S. spent $250 billion more than average expenditures during the Cold War. In a time when we have no serious national adversaries, and Al-Qaeda has been marginalized, we still spend more than the rest of the countries in the world combined. We can reduce defense spending not only by bringing our troops home, but also by reducing unnecessary Pentagon spending. I agree with Defense Secretary Leon Panetta, who proposes reducing the defense budget by cutting spending that was once off limits. Among Panetta's proposed cuts are reducing nuclear weapons, the number of troops in Europe, the size of ground forces, and the number of F-35 Joint Strike Fighters. With the end of both wars, we can begin to cut the size of our ground troops to pre-9/11 levels. The number of carriers and Air Force fighters can also be reduced. It is time to bring our brave troops home, and bring the budget home to rebuild America. And, it is time to step up our positive diplomacy so we can continue to be an important world leader.

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