As the nation’s defense contractors pleaded with Defense Secretary Leon Panetta Tuesday against deeper budget cuts, senators were eying a proposed bill from two of their colleagues that would urge the Obama Administration to sell F-16 jet fighters to Taiwan for pretty much the same reason. Given the dire economy, it shouldn’t come as …
Congress
Question, and Answer, of the Day
From a Q&A session following a talk Monday by Rep. Howard McKeon, R-Calif., at the American Enterprise Institute:
Questioner: Back in the ’80s and ’90s, when the country was debating the size of the defense budget, a phrase was heard all the time — tooth-to-tail ratio — and it’s not heard at all now. And my question to you is: how
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Remembrances and Sacrifices…
September 9th is my cousin Laura’s birthday. She would have been 62. She died Wednesday, of lung cancer, shortly after I arrived from a 14-hour marathon drive from Bremerton, Wash. On my way down, I prayed that she would die peacefully. Instead she died gasping for her last breaths. It was horrific and heartbreaking.
In this …
Member of Congress on “Doomsday” Defense Cuts: “We’re Not Going There”
This week, some members of Congress drew a stark red line against any additional defense cuts, particularly those from a “Doomsday” trigger scenario if the Joint Deficit Reduction Committee fails or Congress does not pass their spending cut proposals.
“Defending Defense”–a joint initiative of The Heritage Foundation, American …
Figures Don’t Lie
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EscOs_pWNkw]
House Republicans fear the prospect of incoming defense cuts, and they’ve just produced a video to argue against them. Fair enough. “What is our military going to do if we keep cutting them?” asks Rep. Howard McKeon, chairman of the armed services committee. Of course, while …
The Protected Principles of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell”
On my desk I have a proposed bill ensuring no troop is “pressured to approve of another person’s sexual conduct if that sexual conduct is contrary to the personal principles of the member” with respect to the repeal of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.”
What I should do here is point out what is obviously upsetting about this …
The “Yellow Parallel, um Peril” (With That Red One)
Make no mistake about it: China remains the U.S.’s No. 1 foe — with a bullet. In its annual kabuki dance Wednesday, the Pentagon issued its latest version of its assessment of China’s military might, mandated by Congress. The 84-page report focused like a laser on what the Pentagon sees as China’s push for naval and air power in the …
The Pentagon’s Annual China Report…
….is going to be released Wednesday afternoon. Can we all calibrate our threat-hype meters beforehand? Fearsome new warplanes? Check. Scary aircraft carrier? Check. Able to gobble up Taiwan as mainland China keeps our carriers at bay with its fearsome carrier-killing missiles? Check. May need to sell Taiwan — think of it as a …
Pentagon Reportedly Planning for “Doomsday” Spending Scenario
Is the White House assuming massive defense cuts next year–much bigger than the cuts already made? Even bigger than the additional reductions contained in the recently passed debt-ceiling legislation?
It sure seems so.
Rumor has it that the Administration’s accounting arm, the Office of Management and Budget, has issued fresh …
$1 Trillion in Cuts Looming
It hardly seemed possible when we first broached the possibility in April that defense spending could be cut by $1 trillion over the coming decade. But there it was Wednesday in the latest issue of National Journal, one of those heavy-duty – and costly – magazines read by all of Washington’s policy wonks:
The Pentagon is
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Military Retirement Pay: Changes are Coming
The chart makes it clear: military pay — including retirement and health benefits — is no longer small beer. While self-described mega-rich man Warren Buffett said Monday on the op-ed page of the New York Times that “the poor and middle class fight for us in Afghanistan,” the truth is that the average soldier is paid, in cash and …
The Maine Reason Cutting Defense Spending Is So Tough
There was a report out the other day suggesting one thing the Pentagon might have to cut, as it tightens its belt, is the $1.3 billion it provides the Defense Commissary Agency, which runs 252 grocery stores around the world. Sure, those kinds of places made sense when troops and their families were stationed in far-off corners of …
A Military Teetering on the “Ragged Edge”
House Armed Services Readiness Subcommittee Chairman J. Randy Forbes (R-VA) held a hearing on the state of the military this week. The conclusion is stark: the U.S. military is at a breaking point. Today. Right now.
None of America’s armed forces can meet all of the global demands placed on them by commanders today. Were an …