February 10, 2015
Obama's Defense-Spending Charade
The president is trying to lure conservatives into a mousetrap with an offer of a topline increase in defense spending in return for removing the spending caps put in place by the 2011 Budget Control Act (BCA). If they are truly interested in the long-term fiscal health of the country, they shouldn’t go for the cheese.
The defense portion of the White House budget submission contains about a $38 billion increase in 2016, and about $155 billion over the next five years. The additional money will raise the base budget to its highest level ever, adding weapons and and support for military operations across the world. This is surely great news for the defense hawks on the House and Senate Armed Services Committees who have been advocating for additional resources ever since the BCA began impacting the defense budget. However, the defense budget hike is a blatant attempt to entice conservatives into abandoning the 2011 cost caps and allowing increases across the board, from defense to entitlements, with accompanying growth in deficits.
Read the full article at The National Interest.
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