Last week, Secretary of Defense Robert Gates announced plans to pare back another $78 billion in Pentagon spending, a sum on top of the $100 billion in efficiencies he’s promised to find. And while one fight’s a-brewing over what to do with those savings (Gates tried to get out in front of the coming austerity package by investing his savings back into DoD, while Obama’s deficit commission wants to use that money to pay down the national debt), a much bigger one is taking shape in the Republican party.
In response to Gates’ proposed savings, the GOP leadership — including new House Armed Services Chairman Buck McKeon (R-CA) — was typical: plow more money into the Pentagon, even when the Pentagon doesn’t want it.
“We are fighting two wars, you have China, you have Iran: Is this the time to be making these types of cuts?” says McKeon.
But the Tea Party — which backed a large percentage of the 85 new Republicans in Congress – has other ideas. Tea Party leader Judson Phillips has posted a letter (restricted access) on the Tea Party Nation website demanding “serious and meaningful cuts in the budget.” It’s little wonder why so many leading conservatives are trying to paint on the blank canvass of Tea Party intellectualism and co-opt the movement before its heart-felt but un-Washington ways engulf the Republican party.
Most Democrats and progressives understand the need for fiscal restraint at the Pentagon. After all, solving the deficit requires increasing revenues, fixing entitlements, and counting on a contribution from the government’s largest agency, the Pentagon. The public knows this too – a new poll suggests that over half of Americans support reduced military spending.
In other words, we could be approaching the tipping point on fiscal responsibility and military spending. Mainstream Republicans, who want to shovel money towards the Pentagon that even it doesn’t want, are beginning to swim upstream more and more.
