Defense Budget

Memorial Day Thoughts on National Defense

Robert Reich | Posted 05.27.2012

Read More: Pentagon, Obama Defense Cuts, Memorial Day, Defense Budget, Defense Cuts, Memorial Day 2012, Politics News

At a time when Medicare, Medicaid, and non-defense discretionary spending (including most programs for the poor, as well as infrastructure and basic R&D) are in serious jeopardy, Obama and the Democrats should be calling for even more defense cuts.

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Obama Proposal Passes Test

AP | DONNA CASSATA | Posted 05.24.2012

Read More: Senate Defense Bill, Video, John McCain, Senate, Defense Bill, Obama Defense, Obama Defense Budget, Carl Levin, Defense Budget, Politics News

WASHINGTON — A Senate panel on Thursday rejected the Pentagon's proposed cuts in personnel and equipment for the Air National Guard as it comple...

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CBO Issues Dire Warning On Bush Tax Cuts

AP | ANDREW TAYLOR | Posted 05.22.2012

Read More: Congress, Video, Cbo, Bush Tax Cuts Expiration, Cbo Report, Spending Cuts, Cbo Bush Tax Cuts, Congressional Budget Office Report, Congressional Budget Office Bush Tax Cuts, Pentagon Budget, Defense Budget, Congressional Budget Office, Pentagon Spending, Bush Tax Cuts, Politics News

WASHINGTON — A new government study released Tuesday says that allowing Bush-era tax cuts to expire and a scheduled round of automatic spending ...

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War Pay: The Nearly $1 Trillion National Security Budget

Christopher Hellman | Posted 05.22.2012

Read More: US Military, Defense Spending Cuts, Defense Spending, Defense Budget, Politics News

Recent months have seen a flurry of headlines about cuts (often called "threats") to the U.S. defense budget. Here, then, is a simple question that no one bothers to ask, no less answer: How much are we spending on national security these days?

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GOP Blasts Obama Defense Budget 5 Times Larger Than China's

Bloomberg | Posted 05.22.2012

Read More: Pentagon, Obama Pentagon Budget, National Defense Authorization Act, Military Spending, Ndaa, Obama Budget, Obama, Gop Defense Budget, Defense Spending, Obama Defense Budget, Pentagon Budget, Defense Budget, Politics News

Republicans and President Barack Obama are squaring off again over federal spending, only this time the president wants to cut it and the Republicans ...

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House Passes Defense Budget That Breaks Spending Agreement

HuffingtonPost.com | Michael McAuliff | Posted 05.18.2012

Read More: House Republican Budget, Video, War on the Poor, Ndaa, 112th Congress, Defense Spending, Defense Budget, Medicaid Cuts, Paul Ryan Budget, Politics News

WASHINGTON -- The House passed a defense budget Friday that exceeds the deal cut by Congress and President Barack Obama last summer, and that would ha...

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Indefinite Detention Showdown Looms In The House

Posted 05.19.2012

Read More: Adam Smith, Indefinite Detention House Vote, Video, Ndaa Indefinite Detention, National Defense Authorization Act, Afghanistan, Ndaa, Justin Amash, Defense Budget, Indefinite Detention, Indefinite Detention Vote, Politics News

By DONNA CASSATTA, THE ASSOCIATED PRESS WASHINGTON -- A showdown looms in the House over whether to end the indefinite detention without trial of t...

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House Votes To Continue The War In Afghanistan

AP | DONNA CASSATA | Posted 05.18.2012

Read More: Pentagon, Video, Afghanistan, House GOP, Defense Bill, Obama Defense, Obama Budget, Pentagon Budget, Defense Budget, House Gop Defense Bill, Politics News

WASHINGTON — The House endorsed the continued war in Afghanistan on Thursday despite acknowledgment from Republicans and Democrats that the Amer...

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Requiem for Reform?

Christopher Holshek | Posted 05.16.2012

Read More: Department of Homeland Security, Rachel Maddow Drift, Project on National Security Reform, Politics, Congress, Military, Military Industrial Complex, Department of Defense, Rachel Maddow, National Security, Homeland Security, Rachel Maddow Show, Fareed Zakaria, Defense Budget, Government Reform, Books News

Maddow succeeds in explaining, in a charmingly non-wonkish way, how we got ourselves to our current state of affairs -- the unhealthy distortion of our time-honored yet taken-for-granted civil-military relationship.

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White House Issues Another Veto Threat

HuffingtonPost.com | Michael McAuliff | Posted 05.15.2012

Read More: Obama White House, White House, Video, Defense Bill, Defense Bill Veto, Obama, White House Veto, Defense Budget Veto, White House Veto Threat, Obama Veto, Defense Budget, Ap, House Defense Bill, Politics News

WASHINGTON -- The White House warned Congress Tuesday that President Barack Obama may be forced to veto a bill authorizing defense spending that the H...

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Public Opinion Blocked On Afghan War

HuffingtonPost.com | Max J. Rosenthal | Posted 05.11.2012

Read More: Adam Smith, Video, Afghanistan, Ndaa, Afghanistan Withdrawal, Afghanistan Troop Withdrawal, Buck Mckeon, Afghanistan Withdrawal Timetable, Defense Budget, Afghanistan War, Adam Smith NDAA, Politics News

While public opinion has turned firmly against the war in Afghanistan, falling to another all-time low in an Associated Press poll on Wednesday, Repub...

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Pentagon Spending and the War on Children

Jeff Blum | Posted 05.10.2012

Read More: Medicare, Defense Spending, Budget Cuts, Defense Budget, Social Security, Pentagon Budget, Politics News

The choice for most of us is clear. When asked, "What would you cut if you have to," Americans chose cuts in military spending over cuts in Social Security or Medicare -- three to one. But poll Congress and you get different answers.

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House Panel Spares One Area From Fiscal Discipline

AP | DONNA CASSATA | Posted 05.10.2012

Read More: Pentagon, Video, Brac, Defense Bill, Obama Defense Cuts, Obama, Obama Defense Budget, Pentagon Budget, Defense Budget, Drones, Politics News

WASHINGTON — Defense Secretary Leon Panetta slammed a House panel on Thursday for adding billions of dollars to President Barack Obama's defense...

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Reid Stands Firm On Tough Cuts

AP | ANDREW TAYLOR | Posted 05.09.2012

Read More: Harry Reid Defense Cuts, Video, Super Committee, Harry Reid, Supercommittee, Reid, Sequester, Defense Cuts, Defense Budget, Politics News

WASHINGTON -- President Barack Obama's top Democratic ally in the Senate said Wednesday that he won't block much-feared automatic spending cuts to the...

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House Rejecting Obama Cuts...For The Military

AP | ROBERT BURNS and DONNA CASSATA | Posted 05.10.2012

Read More: Pentagon, Video, Obama Defense Budget, Defense Spending, Defense Budget, House Defense Budget, Obama Defense Spending, Politics News

WASHINGTON — The House Armed Services Committee on Wednesday backed construction of a missile defense site on the East Coast, rejecting Pentagon...

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The Enemies We Love

Christopher Holshek | Posted 05.04.2012

Read More: Defense Spending, Foreign Policy, Spending Cuts, Military Spending, Defense Budget, Defense Cuts, Military Budget, Obama Spending Cuts, Politics News

Obama's proposed cuts, part of a strategic rebalancing towards greater investment in infrastructure, education, and other long-term sources of American strength, are relative -- at worst, they represent a flatlining of defense spending.

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The Jet That Ate the Pentagon

Winslow T. Wheeler | Posted 05.01.2012

Read More: F-35, Defense Spending, Department of Defense, Defense Budget, Joint Strike Fighter, Defense Pentagon Spending, Pentagon Jets, Politics News

The United States is making a gigantic investment in the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, billed as the next generation of combat aircraft. It's no secret, however, that the program -- the most expensive in American history -- is a calamity.

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Needs Over MEADS

Mark Pfeifle | Posted 04.24.2012

Read More: Persian Gulf, John McCain, Department of Defense, Missile Defense, Government Waste, Iran, Defense Spending, Leon Panetta, Defense Budget, North Korea, Meads, Politics News

For reasons that defy all logic, the administration wishes to spend yet another $400 million on MEADS, the Medium Extended Air Defense System, while simultaneously acknowledging that the missile system will never get off the ground.

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The Shame of Nations: A New Record Is Set on Spending for War

Lawrence Wittner | Posted 04.24.2012

Read More: Taxes, Russia, Military Industrial Complex, U.S. Military, Military Spending, War, Defense Spending, Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, Defense Budget, China, World News

What is the explanation for the fact that the United States -- today's military giant -- is currently engaged in at least two wars (in Iraq and Afghanistan) and appears to be on the verge of a third (with Iran)?

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The Hidden Costs Of War Spending

HuffingtonPost.com | Max J. Rosenthal | Posted 03.01.2012

Read More: Iraq War, Video, Department of Defense, Afghanistan, Buck Mckeon, Defense Spending, Iraq, Iraq War Funding, Defense Budget, Afghanistan War, Politics News

WASHINGTON -- Defense spending has boomed in the post-9/11 era, creating new jobs and programs to support American military operations around the worl...

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Saying No to Militarism

Robert Koehler | Posted 04.24.2012

Read More: Police, Military Spending, Militarism, Toxic Waste, Nuclear Fallout, Armored Vehicles, Defense Budget, Depleted Uranium, Politics News

The grotesque insult of "austerity" in the shadow of limitless military spending is destroying our national sanity.

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Fear and Loathing In the Pentagon Budget

Ben Freeman | Posted 04.18.2012

Read More: Pentagon, Contractors, Deficit, Fearmongering, Government Contracting, Budget, Defense Contractors, Defense Budget, Pentagon Budget, Politics News

Since President Obama released his FY2013 budget request on Monday, proponents of Pentagon waste and inefficiency have been working overtime.

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The American Military Empire Comes Home

John W. Whitehead | Posted 04.13.2012

Read More: Operation Shield, Checks and Balances, Black Hawk Helicopter, SWAT Team, Authorization for Use of Military Force, Constitution, Defense Budget, Drones, Politics News

"I often wonder whether we do not rest our hopes too much upon constitutions, upon laws and upon courts. These are false hopes; believe me, these are ...

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Obama's Budget Bomb: He Proposes Spending Increases, While Disarming America

Ken Blackwell | Posted 04.16.2012

Read More: Pentagon Spending, Budget Cuts, Economy, Budget, Economic Crisis, Government Spending, Obama Budget 2012, Obama Administration, Defense Budget, US Economy, Pentagon Budget, National Security, Obama Budget, Financial Crisis, Defense Spending, U.S. Economy, Missile Defense, Politics News

In terms of actual cuts in defense spending, Obama is shifting the focus from what is known to work in missile defense to developing futuristic missile intercepts which will require years of experimenting at great expense to taxpayers while a vulnerable America waits.

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Special Forces on Steroids

Michael Brenner | Posted 04.16.2012

Read More: US Military, Military, Special Forces, Pentagon, Special Operations Command, National Security, William McRaven, Defense Spending, Defense Budget, Pentagon Spending, State Department, Pentagon Budget, Foreign Policy, Politics News

More military capability equates to more security for the United States. This precept is so deeply embedded in our minds that no one sees a need to state it. Yet it may be false.

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