Defense Spending

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72 Hours for Defense Appropriations Bill

Jake Brewer | Posted 12.16.2009 | Politics

Read More: Transparency, Read the Bill, Omnibus Spending Bill, Sunlight Foundation, Omnibus, Defense Spending, Politics News

While debt limit and health care reform provisions are at least being discussed in the media, it is the laws we can't see, that have never been debated in the open, that are the most dangerous threat.

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The Afghanistan Surge: Will It Cost Us?

Gordon Adams | Posted 12.03.2009 | World

Read More: Obama Afghanistan, Defense Spending, Afghanistan, Foreign Policy, Afghanistan War, World News

While costs will not dictate how we pay for the Obama surge in Afghanistan, they will be a subject of strong debate in the Congress.

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Joint Strike Fighter: We Were Told This Would Happen

Winslow T. Wheeler | Posted 11.20.2009 | Politics

Read More: Ashton Carter, Cost Growth, Defense Spending, Pentagon, Lockheed Martin, Cost Overrun, F-35, Joint Strike Fighter, Politics News

As the Pentagon's $300 billion F-35 Joint Strike Fighter program continues to unravel, it is useful to remind ourselves who told us all of this would happen, and who might now be making foolish prognostications.

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The Job Loss from Reducing Greenhouse Gas Emissions and the Job Loss from Defense Spending

Dean Baker | Posted 11.09.2009 | Business

Read More: Jobs, Defense Spending, Global Warming, Business News

Standard economic models do show that measures designed to reduce green house gasses by raising energy prices will lead to some cost in terms of slower economic growth. However, scare stories never put it in any context.

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The Pentagon's Black Hole

Winslow T. Wheeler | Posted 11.09.2009 | Politics

Read More: Pentagon, DOD Inspector General, Financial Management, Waste, Defense Spending, Pentagon Budget, Gao, Defense Budget, Obama Pentagon, Politics News

It's not that DOD is flunking audits. You flunk an audit when you track the money and find it was not spent as intended. DOD cannot track the money; the Department of Defense is unauditable.

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A Little Perspective on the Cost of Health Care Reform

Aaron E. Carroll | Posted 11.03.2009 | Politics

Read More: Health Care Reform, Defense Spending, Social Security, Medicare, Federal Budget Deficit, Health Care Costs, Bush Tax Cuts, Politics News

People are saying that health care reform is going to break the bank. No. Health care costs are what might bankrupt us. I am all in favor of reducing those, but railing against the cost of reform while ignoring all the rest is willful ignorance.

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The Constructive Effects of Public Exposure

Winslow T. Wheeler | Posted 10.20.2009 | Politics

Read More: Senate Armed Services Committee, Defense Spending, Pork, Support the Troops, Earmarks, Defense Budget, House Armed Services Committee, Winslow T. Wheeler, Politics News

After the practice was publicly identified in recent debates, the Congressional Armed Services Committees seem to have reduced one of their own more obnoxious, anti-defense, pro-pork activities.

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The Pentagon Kluge That Refuses to Die

Winslow T. Wheeler | Posted 10.14.2009 | Politics

Read More: F-22, Robert Gates, Earmarks, F-22 Raptor, Congress, Pork, Defense Spending, Defense Budget, Winslow T. Wheeler, Politics News

After a long fight, Gates and President Obama ultimately prevailed this summer in ending further F-22 production. Game over. Right? Anyone who thinks so doesn't appreciate the staying power of Congress' porkers.

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Boeing Steps Up Lobbying Efforts

The Huffington Post | Jenna Staul | Posted 10.09.2009 | Business

Read More: Boeing, Lobbying, New York Times, Defense Spending, Lobbyblog, Business News

The New York Times reports Friday that due to Obama administration cutbacks in spending on weapons systems, defense manufacturer Boeing has intensifie...

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Defense Pork Ladled Out To Defense Subcommittees' Campaign Contributors

The Huffington Post | Arthur Delaney | Posted 10.09.2009 | Politics

Read More: Pork, Defense Spending, Earmarks, Lobbyblog, Taxpayers for Common Sense, Transparency, Politics News

Earmark watchdog Taxpayers for Common Sense is barking: The 18 members of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense will bring home 60 percent...

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Support Our Troops: The Senate Porkers' Approach

Winslow T. Wheeler | Posted 10.08.2009 | Politics

Read More: Tom Coburn, Senate, John McCain, Defense Spending, Pork, Earmarks, Defense Budget, Defense Appropriations, Politics News

In 30 years on Capitol Hill, I never saw Congress mangle the defense budget as badly as this year. Despite that, I see signs that we might be on the cusp of a change for the better.

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Senate Passes Pentagon Budget, War Funding Bill

AP | By ANDREW TAYLOR | Posted 10.06.2009 | Politics

Read More: Gop, Pentagon, Defense Budget, House, Afghanistan, Billion, Obama, Iraq, Defense Spending, Republicans, Defense Spending 2010, Democrats, Barack Obama, Senate, Politics News

WASHINGTON -- As President Barack Obama weighs major shifts in strategy in the deteriorating mission in Afghanistan, the Senate on Tuesday passed a bi...

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Cash for Nuclear Clunkers

Joe Cirincione | Posted 09.03.2009 | Politics

Read More: Nuclear Disarmament, Russia, Nonproliferation, Nuclear Weapons, Robert Gates, National Security, Joint Chiefs of Staff, Cash for Clunkers, Start Treaty, Defense Spending, Nuclear Terrorism, Air Force, Barack Obama, Dmitry Medvedev, Politics News

If Secretary Gates is looking to save money and make us safer, there is no better place to start than by eliminating the security liabilities we promote in our arsenal of nuclear clunkers.

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Military-Industrial Complex Loses F-22 Battle, But Still Reigns Strong

HuffingtonPost.com | Sahil Kapur | Posted 08.23.2009 | Politics

Read More: Defense Lobbying, F-22, Defense Spending, Military-Industrial Complex, Politics News

The military-industrial complex may have lost the battle over funding for F-22s, but defense contractors continue to prevail in the fight to finance p...

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Deep-Sixing the F-22

Robert Scheer | Posted 08.22.2009 | Politics

Read More: Robert Scheer, Barack Obama, Terrorism, Cold War, F-22, Defense Spending, Robert Gates, George H.W. Bush, Politics News

There are 187 F-22s that have yet to fly a single combat mission. The news that Congress might stop production of this high-profit weapons system is a considerable victory for logic.

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Over $44,000 an Hour to Fly: Putting the F-22 in Perspective

Brandon Friedman | Posted 08.13.2009 | Politics

Read More: F-22, Air Force, F-22 Raptor, Defense Spending, Department of Defense, Politics News

That we would spend as much money in an hour ($44,300) flying a nearly useless fighter jet as we do paying critical personnel to fight the war on the ground is obscene.

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On the Trail of Defense Spending

Avelino Maestas | Posted 08.10.2009 | Home

Read More: F-22, Defense Spending, Department of Defense, House Armed Services Committee, Home News

We're still a long way from putting data about Congress at your fingertips. OpenCongress and Congrelate are both cutting edge tools, but information like committee votes is still buried in PDFs.

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Glass Half Full: House Democratic Caucus Backs McGovern Afghanistan Exit Amendment

Tom Andrews | Posted 07.26.2009 | Politics

Read More: House of Representatives, Congress, Troops, Department of Defense, Chellie Pingree, Afghanistan, Walter Jones, Appropriations, Democrats, Jim McGovern, Barack Obama, Defense Appropriations, Military, Vietnam, Defense Spending, Barbara Lee, Politics News

For those concerned the U.S. is becoming mired in a military quagmire in Afghanistan there was good news and bad news on the House floor this afternoon.

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The Iron Triangle

Robert Koehler | Posted 07.26.2009 | Politics

Read More: Mainstream Media, War Planning, Defense Spending, Department of Defense, National Security, Politics News

The problem was not simply gaps or "lack of balance" in the reportage, but the utter lack of a larger context: some hint that military planners are accountable to more than themselves.

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Jon Soltz, Phil Gingrey Debate Funding For New Line Of Fighter Jets, The F-22 Raptor (VIDEO)

Huffington Post | Nicholas Graham | Posted 07.25.2009 | Politics

Read More: Phil Gingrey, Video, Military, Jon Soltz Video, Air Force, F22 Raptor, F-22 Raptor, F-22 Raptor Funding, Defense Spending, Jon Soltz, F-22 Raptor Phil Gingrey Jon Soltz, Politics News

Jon Soltz, Chairman of VoteVets.org and a frequent HuffPost blogger, faced off against Georgia Congressman Phil Gingrey (R) over funding for the extre...

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Congress, the F-22 and the Monkey on Our Back

Lorelei Kelly | Posted 07.24.2009 | Politics

Anybody who has lived with an addict knows about denial. So it goes with Congress and defense spending. Case in point this week is the F-22, a gold-plated Cold War barnacle.

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Will Congress Put Useless Fighter Jets Above America?

Jon Soltz | Posted 07.23.2009 | Politics

Read More: F-35-Lightning-Ii, Pentagon, Nuclear Waste, Defense Secretary Robert Gates, Department of Defense, Robert Gates, President Obama, F-22 Raptor, F-22, Nuclear-Waste, Department of Energy, Defense Spending, Pentagon Budget, Defense Department, Barack Obama, Politics News

Congress is about to throw $369 million (on a down-payment of $2 billion) for a dozen F-22 fighter jets that even the Pentagon doesn't want.

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WaPo Fires Dan Froomkin, Stalwart Voice On Torture (And The Rest Of Your Scritti Politti)

HuffingtonPost.com | Jason Linkins | Posted 07.19.2009 | Media

Read More: Polls, Twitter, Environmental Policy, Media Criticism, Defense Policy, Dan Froomkin, Iran, Defense Spending, Iran Elections, Torture, Media News

I have to say that I greet today's decision by the Washington Post to fire blogger and columnist Dan Froomkin to be both sad and alarming. Froomkin h...

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Washington Showdown Over IMF Money

Mark Weisbrot | Posted 07.12.2009 | Politics

Read More: Iraq War, Bailout, Afghanistan, International Monetary Fund, Obama Administration, Imf, US Congress, Defense Spending, Europe, Democrats, Barack Obama, War Supplemental, Republicans, Politics News

Obama and the House Democrats can't seem to muscle the votes they need to pass a $108 billion appropriation for the IMF. The stakes are high for both the administration, and the world.

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