Defense Cuts

Republican lawmakers, eager to get some kind of debt-reduction deal without agreeing to higher taxes, may be ready to accept big defense cuts:

Senior GOP lawmakers and leadership aides said it would be far easier to build support for a debt-reduction package that cuts the Pentagon budget — a key Democratic demand — than one that raises revenue by tinkering with the tax code. . . . In listening sessions with their rank and file, House Republican leaders said they have found a surprising willingness to consider defense cuts that would have been unthinkable five years ago, when they last controlled the House. While the sessions have sparked heated debate on many issues, Rep. Peter Roskam (Ill.), the deputy GOP whip, said there are few lawmakers left who view the Pentagon budget as sacrosanct.

“When we say everything is on the table, that’s what we mean,” said House Majority Whip Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), the No. 3 leader who has been hosting the listening sessions in his Capitol offices.

Rep. Adam Kinzinger of Illinois is one of many Republicans for whom the new religion of spending cuts has replaced the old religion of military strength:

Kinzinger, an active-duty Air National Guardsman who flew missions in Iraq, fought successfully last month to cut a request for $100 million to buy new flight suits for Air Force pilots. The old ones, he argued, are good enough.

Defense spending is “a pillar of Republican strength. It’s a pillar of national strength. Look, I know there are sacred cows,” Kinzinger said in an interview. “But we cannot afford them anymore.”

All to the good, if you ask me. Anybody who wants to cut waste from the Federal budget should be looking first at military and security programs, because that is where the money is. I actually agree with Barney Frank about this:

If we can get $100 billion from reducing unneeded military spending, that’s better than $100 billion in taxation.