EDITORIAL Military spending threatens nations priorities
Pentagon spending will rise to a
record $360 billion in the 2003 fiscal year if the defense establishment has
its way. The figure represents a 14 percent increase from the fiscal year 2001
level of $316 billion, the level of spending when the Bush administration came
into office.
These figures do not include the $17.5 billion in emergency
funding that Congress allocated to the Pentagon late last year to help cover
the cost of fighting the war in Afghanistan. The war is estimated to cost
nearly $2 billion monthly, and the Pentagon is expected to seek more
war-related supplemental funding in the weeks ahead.
Military advocates are taking full advantage of the public support
for the war on terrorism to build the military. Given the patriotic mood of the
country, they are confident that congressional members will only reluctantly
vote against military spending.
The 2003 fiscal year begins next October.
The latest Pentagon-proposed increases run $20 to $30 billion
(depending on who is doing the counting) over this years spending figure,
but would be less than the $33 billion increase approved by Congress last year,
the largest single increase since the Reagan era.
The armed services are clamoring to accelerate major weapons
programs that have been delayed by budget squeezes in the past. Early last
year, there was much speculation that some of those programs -- including a new
generation aircraft carrier, the Armys Crusader mobile artillery unit and
the Marine Corpss V22 Osprey aircraft -- might be canceled or reduced.
Now military officials are predicting that all those programs will be financed
in 2003, and that some will be expanded. Senior officers have also complained
privately that a $20 billion increase will not be enough, raising the
likelihood that they will lobby Congress for more money.
The budget proposals include funding to continue the development
of the nuclear missile defense shield, which is eventually expected to run well
in excess of $100 billion. The Fiscal 2002 Pentagon budget allows $8 billion
for defense shield development.
The latest Pentagon-proposed spending increases come during a time
of an economic downturn, when other federal agencies are being told to trim
spending to balance declining tax revenues. The Pentagon, meanwhile, appears to
have, if not a carte blanche to spend, at least the freest atmosphere of all
the federal agencies in which to work.
Were in an atmosphere where not many hard choices are
being made, Gordon Adams, a budget official in the Clinton
administration, told The New York Times, referring to the mood in the
Pentagon. And as long as were not making hard choices, there will
be an attempt to have it all.
The size of recent increases in Pentagon spending is unparalleled
in recent times and defies ready comprehension. For example, the $44 billion
increase since fiscal 2001 would be greater than any other nations annual
defense budget: Japan -- $41 billion; Great Britain -- $35 billion; Russia --
$29 billion; Germany -- $23 billion; or China -- $14.5 billion.
President Eisenhowers warning about the acquisition of
unwarranted influence by the military-industrial complex is more relevant
today than it was in 1961 when the celebrated general delivered his farewell
address to the nation. The Pentagons political muscle grows by the year
-- at the nations peril. With money, elections and politics so closely
tied together, the influence the military would normally exercise on any
administration, Republican or Democrat, becomes overwhelming, amounting to a
stranglehold on government priorities and the nations ideals.
National Catholic Reporter, January 18,
2002
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