Department of Defense Anticipates Impending Budget Cuts
With the massive deficits the U.S. government is facing, huge budget cuts are casting dark clouds over the Department of Defense (DOD). As part of his proposed budget for 2012, President Barack Obama plans to spend approximately $924 billion on defense, veterans care and international affairs. This means that budget reductions will equal to about $75 billion per year over 8 years. The cuts are in addition to the already enacted DOD reductions of $45 billion per year over 10 years.
Although Defense Secretary Leon Panetta vehemently decried defense cuts, referring to them as devastating measures that “will tear a seam in the nation’s defense,” many supporters of the proposed budget are saying it’s time to roll back on military spending to decrease the government’s massive deficits. Since the early onset of the recession that began in 2008, countless have had to cope with job loss. As Obama tries to restore fiscal responsibility in 2012, he is slashing spending on many areas of the federal government, not just in Pentagon.
Charlie Cooper, Baltimore-based activist, Baltimore Sun, said “Shrinking the Pentagon gives the U.S. a chance to bolster education, energy and infrastructure.” Cooper added that “These cuts will not put our security at risk, though they will cut into profits and executive pay at certain defense-establishment corporations.” Though significant budget cuts are looming over DOD, the President’s proposed budget for 2012, which includes more than $1 trillion in deficit reduction, still reflects national defense as one of the major areas that will receive the greatest chunk of federal funds, only bested by health care and Social Security.
Read more:
The President’s Budget for Fiscal Year 2012
U.S. Department of Defense News Article: Panetta Urges Leadership in Budget Decisions
The Hill Blog: Panetta Decries Defense Cuts, Opposes Plans to Void them
Reuters Blog: Drum Circle of the War Hawks
Baltimore Sun: Convert Defense Cuts into Civilian Benefits
I guess Charlie Cooper, quoted in the article, doesn’t know what “cut” means. Cuts in defense sepnding as a means of reducing the deficit and future borrowing aren’t really cuts if the money is simply re-allocated to other programs.
SLS
January 4, 2012