CUT THE PENTAGON BUDGET! UPDATE: Fiscal Cliff?

Congress faces automatic sequestration spending cuts if it doesn't come up with a budget plan by the end of the year.  Tell Congress to get serious about cutting Pentagon spending to make progress on the budget.

Email or Call Their Local Office

Rep Mick Mulvaney (SC-5) https://forms.house.gov/mulvaney/webforms/zipauthen_contact.shtml

Rep  Joe Wilson (SC-2) : https://joewilsonforms.house.gov/Forms/WriteYourRep/default.aspx

Rep Jim Clyburn (SC-6): https://forms.house.gov/clyburn/zipauth.shtml

Don’t know your Congressman? Outside SC? Go here: house.gov

More South Carolina Congressman Email Links, Info on the Pentagon Budget & More: Click “Read More”

More South Carolina Congressman Email Links

Rep Tim Scott (SC-1) http://timscott.house.gov/Contact/

Rep Jeff Duncan (SC-3) https://jeffduncan.house.gov/contact-me

Rep Trey Gowdy (SC-4) http://gowdy.house.gov/Contact/default.aspx

How Much Money?  What’s the Next Step?

The 2013 House Defense appropriations bill amounted to $605.8 billion (including $87.7 billion to fund “the war” called OCO or Overseas Contingency Operations.)   The House bill will next be reconciled with a Senate Defense appropriations bill to create a final Defense appropriations bill for 2013.

Since 2001 the Pentagon budget has doubled and keeps increasing despite the fiscal crisis.   In FY 2012, Defense spending amounted to $663.7 Billion, eclipsing all other discretionary spending, and rivaling such entitlement programs as Social Security ($695 Billion, the biggest entitlement program).  Military spending has gone relatively unscathed in budget cuts.

Two Very Informative Links:

“Unlike Mitt Romney, Most Americans Want to Cut US Military Spending” by Lawrence Wittner http://hnn.us/articles/unlike-mitt-romney-most-americans-want-cut-us-military-spending

Peace Action’s Peace Blog “Thank and Spank” by Judith LeBlanc

http://networkedblogs.com/AjU4K

Suggested Pentagon Budget Cuts

1.  Drawing down forces in Afghanistan and ending the US presence there.

2.  Scaling back hundreds of US military bases abroad.

3.  Canceling or reducing procurement of the costly V-22 Osprey,  F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, Expeditionary Fighting Vehicle,  and  the Space Tracking and Surveillance System.*

4. “Rightsizing” or reducing the US nuclear weapons arsenal.*

*Part of $107 Billion in Pentagon budget cuts suggested in a joint report by the conservative National Taxpayers Union and the left-leaning US Public Interest Research Group (PIRG) Toward Common Ground: Bridging the Political Divide to Reduce Spending