Military Should Be On Chopping Block

Few Americans will escape the pain of upcoming cuts in federal spending. Medicare benefits will shrink. So will farm subsidies, crucial to this region’s economy. Ditto for long-standing popular aid to veterans, college students, small businesses and poor people in need of a lawyer, as well as hundreds of others. Highway maintenance will deteriorate. Scores of agencies, providing thousands of family-wage jobs, will be closed; among them may be the Spokane office of the U.S. Bureau of Mines.

Deep cuts are needed to make government spend within its means.

But one fat target seems exempt: the military-industrial complex.

The budget outline approved by Republican negotiators last week does deserve applause for seeking efficiencies in some big-ticket programs such as Medicare. Without cuts in the costliest programs, it will be impossible to balance the budget, no matter how severe the cuts might be in relatively tiny programs such as public broadcasting.

So, if Congress has the courage to go after senior citizens, why not defense?

What, really, is the threat most likely to hurt ordinary Americans - disease, injury from unsafe roads, impoverishment from a weak economy or foreign military attack?

Do Republicans think flag-waving and fear-mongering can cover up their ties to the Pentagon’s dependents, the corporate munitions-makers?

Senate Republicans, to their credit, did want to keep defense spending flat, with no adjustment for inflation. That would have forced modest cuts. But House Republicans wanted a $68 billion increase for defense. The newly negotiated budget outline splits the difference and provides for a $30 billion increase.

Of course, the United States needs a potent military. But current military threats are smaller and more primitive than they were during the Cold War.

In view of all the other sacrifices to be required, how badly do Americans need more B-2 bombers, for example, or a new Stealth fighter, or a new system to shoot down ballistic missiles? When numerous other programs are being eliminated, why not at least push for Pentagon efficiencies?

Weapons contractors, as well as mouthpieces such as the powerful Heritage Foundation, have begun to lobby aggressively for the latest killer toys. Their effort will intensify.

So will the shock among ordinary Americans as Congress moves from vague budget-cutting goals to detailed plans. As those details become painfully clear, let us hope Congress places the Pentagon on the chopping block along with everyone else.

, DataTimes The following fields overflowed: CREDIT = John Webster/For the editorial board