Great news, everybody! We won't be cutting defense spending after all.
As part of the cringe-worthy debt ceiling deal reached last summer, if the Supercommittee charged with locating cuts was unable to fulfill its duty, the defense budget would be hit with a humungous share of the spending reductions. The idea was that cutting defense spending, ordinarily a non-starter in Washington, would be enough of a threat to force bipartisan compromise.
Did it work? You're so stupid! No, it didn't work. The Supercommittee done failed. So, here come the defense cuts, right? Right?
Friday morning, the House voted to eliminate the sequestration part of the National Defense Authorization Act, bringing it in line with a previous House move on the Budget Control Act, all of which protects the defense budget from the threatened cuts. Yes, this is the same House GOP that caused the debt ceiling debacle in the first place, because they were so upset with out-of-control federal spending. That very same House contingent voted today against an amendment that would cut $8 billion from the defense budget, arguing that they've made equal cuts to social services like food stamps and women's health funding. Because apparently spending is only out of control when it's spent on something you don't like. Other than that, it's hunky-dory.
So, despite the fact that a majority of Americans are now comfortable with cutting defense spending, and former Defense Secretary Robert Gates has already recommended cuts to the defense budget, and we're drawing down on our military conflicts and so need less military spending, we're still upping the defense budget at the cost of poor people.
Have a nice weekend.
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Related: Holy Crap, We Might Actually Cut Defense Spending
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