[Peace-discuss] 60% Of House Democrats Vote For A Defense Budget Even Bigger Than Trump's

Tue Aug 8 12:27:15 UTC 2017

60% Of House Democrats Vote For A Defense Budget Even Bigger Than Trump's

Description:
http://blogs-images.forbes.com/files/2014/07/Erik-Sherman_avatar_1404938510-
62x62.jpg <http://www.forbes.com/sites/eriksherman/> Erik Sherman,
Contributor 

Jul 14, 2017 5:38 PM 10,892 

Description:
http://specials-images.forbesimg.com/imageserve/c381c9c2d1cf4c149a2ab836ec14
25a7/960x0.jpg?fit=scaleWednesday, March 8, 2017. Romanian and U.S troops
staged [+] 

When income inequality combines with systemic and systematic redistribution
of virtually all income growth to the wealthiest while their taxes are
reduced, you've got a budget problem. People increasingly need help as the
median household income remains flat, even as costs rise. Either you can
<https://www.forbes.com/sites/eriksherman/2017/06/26/how-much-is-a-dead-poor
-person-worth-to-the-wealthy-3-million/> literally write off the lives of
poorer people, as the healthcare "reform" bills from the House and Senate
effectively do, or you need to find ways to reduce other spending.

The single biggest section of the discretionary portion of the budget is
military spending. For years the Pentagon has been incapable of fiscal
responsibility. This is the body that, according to news reports last fall,
tried to
<https://www.washingtonpost.com/investigations/pentagon-buries-evidence-of-1
25-billion-in-bureaucratic-waste/2016/12/05/e0668c76-9af6-11e6-a0ed-ab0774c1
eaa5_story.html> hide $125 billion in wasted spending over a five year
program. It's the only agency in the entire federal government still unable
to pass a financial audit. And it's handed the largest check even as the
Cold War is long over, no other country has our military power, and
<http://www.theamericanconservative.com/articles/congress-hypnotized-by-plan
e-that-cant-get-off-the-ground/> major new weapons systems have been
outright disasters and money sinks.

But big companies that make billions and billions of dollars a year shovel
contributions at congressional representatives because it's a great
investment. All that income only required $11 million in 2016 donations,
with  <https://www.opensecrets.org/industries/mems.php> 38% going to
Democrats and 62% to Republicans, according to OpenSecrets.org.

For the 2017 fiscal year that ends on September 30, the
<https://www.defense.gov/News/News-Releases/News-Release-View/Article/652687
/department-of-defense-dod-releases-fiscal-year-2017-presidents-budget-propo
sal/> Obama budget called for $582.7 billion, which included a base budget
of $523.9 billion and the "overseas contingency operations (OCO) budget" of
$58.8 billion. The Trump administration wanted to
<https://www.forbes.com/sites/eriksherman/2017/03/16/trumps-budget-is-an-unr
ealistic-fiction/> add about $54 billion. As the
<http://comptroller.defense.gov/Portals/45/Documents/defbudget/fy2018/fy2018
_Budget_Request_Overview_Book.pdf> Defense Department's own budget numbers
showed, it requested $574.5 billion in base budget and $64.6 billion in OCO
for a total of $639.1 billion.

Ah, the pikers.
<https://twitter.com/intent/tweet?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.forbes.com%2Fsites%2F
eriksherman%2F2017%2F07%2F14%2Fmost-house-democrats-just-voted-for-a-defense
-budget-far-bigger-than-trumps%2F&text=The%20House%20passed%20a%20%24696.5%2
0billion%20defense%20bill%20that%20makes%20Trump%27s%20look%20positively%20r
easonable%20in%20comparison.> Today, the House passed a $696.5 billion
defense bill that makes Trump's look positively reasonable in comparison.

There have been indications the House would insist on more spending than the
White House did. The  <http://clerk.house.gov/evs/2017/roll378.xml> final
vote by party is - or maybe it's should be - surprising. A huge number of
Democrats voted for the measure.

There are currently
<https://pressgallery.house.gov/member-data/party-breakdown> 240 Republicans
and 194 Democrats <http://clerk.house.gov/evs/2017/roll378.xml>  in the
body, with 1 vacancy. Out of the Republicans, 227 voted in favor and 8 voted
against this bill, making 230, with 10 apparently missing in action. Of the
194 Democrats, 117 voted for the bill and 73 voted against, with 4 not
voting.
<https://twitter.com/intent/tweet?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.forbes.com%2Fsites%2F
eriksherman%2F2017%2F07%2F14%2Fmost-house-democrats-just-voted-for-a-defense
-budget-far-bigger-than-trumps%2F&text=Democrats%20%27oppose%27%20big%20mili
tary%20spending%20and%20the%20Trump%20administration%20but%2060%25%20voted%2
0for%20a%20huge%20military%20budget.> In other words, of the party that
supposedly opposes rampant military spending and the Trump administration,
60% voted for this bill.

There are things the country cannot afford. One is a defense budget that
embraces 18.7% year-over-year growth, particularly when pressure on safety
net spending increases with a growing population and increasing income
inequality while
<https://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/whitehouse.gov/files/omb/budget/fy2018/ap_
11_receipts.pdf> tax receipts are up between 2016 and 2017 by only 5.9%. It
seems crazy that the GOP, which fancies itself a champion of fiscal
responsibility, agrees to this and the party in opposition, which has a
glamorous self-image as some sort of resistance group, marches in step.

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