Democrats to cut spending on military stimulus

DefenseNews:

Confronted by two costly wars and a collapsing economy, the U.S. Senate Armed Services Committee is preparing to trim military spending on weapons, committee chairman Sen. Carl Levin said Jan. 30.

"We are going to cut weapons systems," Levin said during a news conference in an ornate Armed Services Committee hearing room.

"That's not just me speaking. The secretary of defense and the chairman of the Joint Chiefs [of Staff] have spoken about [how] we have got to face the reality that there's going to be a reduction somewhere in the defense budget," said Levin, D-Mich.

"We don't want to reduce personnel; we don't want to shortchange personnel" amid a war, he said. "So we've got to look to the future and make savings there. There's the fact of life."

Levin declined to name specific weapons that are likely to be on the chopping block.

But he said "I'd love to see" cuts to the missile-defense program. Too much money has been spent on missile defense systems before adequate, realistic testing has been done, he said.

Other possible targets for spending cuts include shipbuilding and the F-22 stealth fighter. The Army's Future Combat Systems program is a less likely target, Levin said.

The White House may lead the way on cutting weapons. Levin said he expects "some significant changes" to be proposed in the 2010 budget that Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates will send to Congress in April.

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This is double dog dumb.

In the last 80 years defense spending has been the most reliable stimulus to the economy especially during a recession or depression. We should be increasing defense spending rather than spending on abortion clinics and STD prevention. This is just what you can expect from Democrats who care more about spending on their constituent groups than on national security. This should be a huge issue for Republicans and they better start talking about it now and getting the voters informed.