{"id":111,"date":"2012-10-15T19:34:25","date_gmt":"2012-10-15T19:34:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/peaceeconomyproject.org\/wordpress\/?page_id=111"},"modified":"2025-07-24T13:21:25","modified_gmt":"2025-07-24T18:21:25","slug":"budget-and-taxes","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/peaceeconomyproject.org\/wordpress\/budget-and-taxes\/","title":{"rendered":"Defense Budget Cuts"},"content":{"rendered":"

The United States is the single biggest military spender in the world. National Priorities – an organization that educates the American public on the federal budget – takes note of this fact, and ties U.S. military spending \u2013 which is primarily focused on current and potential conflicts abroad \u2013 to its analog here at home: spending on veterans of foreign wars, incarceration, immigration enforcement, and the war on drugs.<\/p>\n

In 2019, the militarized budget amounted to 64.5 percent of discretionary spending. U.S. military spending, traditionally defined, was $730 billion in 2019. Studies that seek to define a \u201cnational security\u201d budget \u2013 which includes the military, and also veterans\u2019 affairs, homeland security, and similar expenses \u2013 can easily arrive at estimates approaching or exceeding $1 trillion per year. That amount approaches the size of the entire U.S. discretionary budget.<\/p>\n

The National Priorities report defines a different, but related, concept: the militarized budget. In recognition that the U.S. maintains both the world\u2019s highest military spending, and one of its highest incarceration rates, the militarized budget includes the traditional military budget, as well as spending on veterans\u2019 affairs, homeland security, incarceration, law enforcement, immigration enforcement, and the still-ongoing war on drugs.<\/p>\n

<\/code>PEP Perspective<\/h2>\n

The United States has a military budget that is greater than the next ten countries combined: more than rivals like China and Russia, and more than allies like Saudi Arabia, the United Kingdom, and France, said the National Priorities Report.\u00a0 At $730 billion in 2019, military spending accounted for more than 53 percent of the federal discretionary budget \u2013 the budget that Congress sets each year during its annual appropriations process. The militarized budget includes discretionary spending on the traditional military budget, as well as veterans\u2019 affairs, homeland security, and law enforcement and incarceration. In 2019, the militarized budget totaled $887.8 billion \u2013 amounting to 64.5 percent of discretionary spending.<\/p>\n

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Those who believe in a Peace Economy believe that a substantial amount of any cuts need to come out of the defense budget. Although our organization does not endorse political candidates or parties, some in the political system are addressing the issues we care about. In the summer of 2020, there was a\u00a0Senate amendment introduced to the National Defense Authorization Act to divert 10 percent of the $740 billion military budget to jobs, health care, and education; a House amendment to accomplish effectively the same thing; and a Senate proposal to strongly curtail the 1033 program, the program that transfers military hardware to law enforcement agencies. The first two proposals came from Bernie Sanders and the Congressional Progressive Caucus, while the third even had bipartisan support.<\/code><\/p>\n

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Center for American Progress<\/strong> http:\/\/www.americanprogress.org\/<\/a>. Focuses on a variety of national issues from a progressive perspective.\u00a0 Experts on the military budget include Larry Korb, Rudy deLeon and Caroline Wadhams.<\/p>\n

Congressional Budget Office (CBO)<\/strong> http:\/\/www.cbo.gov\/<\/a>. An indispensable, non-partisan source of analysis about the spending implications of proposed legislation.<\/p>\n

DoDBuzz <\/strong>http:\/\/www.dodbuzz.com<\/a>. \u00a0An online defense and acquisition journal that covers lots of details surrounding the pentagon and those who sell weapons to it.<\/p>\n

Global Issues<\/strong>\u00a0http:\/\/www.globalissues.org\/<\/a>. A detailed site maintained by Anup Shah that covers social, political, economic and environmental issues.<\/p>\n

Government Accountability Office (GAO)<\/strong> http:\/\/www.gao.gov\/<\/a>. An independent, non-partisan agency that works for Congress, investigating how federal money is spent. About 900 GAO reports are published annually, most of them requested by congressmen.<\/p>\n

Project on Government Oversight (POGO)<\/strong>\u00a0 http:\/\/www.pogo.org\/<\/a>. Founded in 1981, the Project On Government Oversight first focused on military excesses. It has since expanded into an independent watchdog concerned with reforms throughout the national government. POGO\u2019s investigations into corruption, misconduct, and conflicts of interest are designed to achieve a more effective, accountable, open, and ethical federal government.<\/p>\n

Tax Payers for Common Sense<\/strong>\u00a0http:\/\/www.taxpayer.net\/<\/a>. Covers all aspects of the federal budget including national security. Participated with Cato Institute, Center for American Progress and others on the 2010 Sustainable Defense Task Force (SDEF) as chaired by Congressmen Barney Frank and Ron Paul. It concluded that a trillion dollar cut in the Pentagon Budget over 10 years made sense.<\/p>\n

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[peekaboo_link name='blog']<\/code>Blog Posts[\/peekaboo_link]<\/code><\/h2>\n

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