[PAA-Discuss] FW: A Historic Opportunity to Cut Military Spending by a Trillion

Thu Aug 4 15:24:43 EDT 2011

FYI. Lee/Mom

  _____  

From: Just Foreign Policy [mailto:info at justforeignpolicy.org] 
Sent: Thursday, August 04, 2011 1:13 PM
To: leeloe at igc.org
Subject: A Historic Opportunity to Cut Military Spending by a Trillion

Dear Lee, 

Take Action

1. Urge
<http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=asANRWOBzwp2CzAhie%2
FmyBiXn2XEzP%2FU> the President and your representatives in Congress to put
the projected military budget first in line for cuts in upcoming
House-Senate committee recommendations.

2. Help
<http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=bONX2ytH8QAcAeqGrb30
rhiXn2XEzP%2FU> us launch our "Cut the Pentagon Budget First" campaign with
a donation of $10, $25, or $100.

The final agreement in Washington to raise the debt ceiling in exchange for
massive spending cuts has made a lot of people unhappy. But the agreement
had one important positive aspect: it created a historic opportunity for
significant cuts in projected military spending.

Will you help us seize this historic opportunity by urging Congress and the
President to put military spending first in line for budget cuts and by
making a donation to support our "Cut the Pentagon Budget First" campaign to
build momentum for Congress to enact deep cuts to the military budget by
Thanksgiving?

Write to Congress and the President here:

http://www.justforeignpolicy.org/act/cutpentagonfirst
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STLBiXn2XEzP%2FU> 

Help us launch our "Cut the Pentagon Budget First" campaign this September,
which will mobilize the public around congressional and media advocacy
initiatives to press for deep cuts in projected military spending, by
donating $10, $25, or $100 to Just Foreign Policy here:

http://www.justforeignpolicy.org/donate/cutpentagonfirst
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Thanks to this week's agreement, for the first time in years, "security"
spending in the current fiscal year has been cut to below what it was in the
previous year. While the cut is small, it has set an important precedent:
"security" spending doesn't have to grow, it can go down. [1]

More significantly, under the agreement, a joint House-Senate committee is
supposed to propose, by Thanksgiving, $1.5 trillion of additional cuts from
projected spending over ten years. Significant cuts in projected military
spending are on the table! Indeed, if the joint committee doesn't agree on a
plan or Congress doesn't enact it, $1.2 trillion in cuts over 10 years will
be triggered, of which half must come from the military. [2]

If the military cuts in the trigger mechanism take place, when added to the
projected military cuts announced by the White House as part of this week's
deal, total cuts in projected military spending would amount to $884
billion. This is very close to the $886 billion in military cuts agreed by
the plan of the Senate's "Gang of Six," a plan endorsed by President Obama.
[3] It's in the ballpark of the $960 billion in proposed military cuts of
the Frank-Paul Sustainable Defense Task Force, [4] the trillion dollars in
proposed military cuts of the report of President's deficit commission, [5]
the $1.1 trillion reduction in projected military spending proposed by the
Domenici-Rivlin task force, [6] and the $1.2 trillion in military cuts
recommended by Cato [7]. Conservative Republican Senator Tom Coburn says
cutting the projected military budget by a trillion dollars is "not hard"
and is "common sense." [8]

Cutting the military budget by a trillion dollars would likely imply a
fundamentally different foreign policy: one without counterinsurgency wars.
The Washington Post reports:

To find $1 trillion in savings, the White House would have to make major
changes to its current global military strategy, under which the Pentagon
should be able to fight two wars like Iraq and Afghanistan simultaneously.
Scaling back that requirement would allow for big cuts to the Army and
Marine Corps... Congress would be betting that the Afghan war will wind down
as planned and that the country will not be drawn into any big, costly
counterinsurgency wars in the next 10 to 15 years. [9]

>From the point of view of the interests of the majority of Americans, that's
not a cost of cutting the military budget; it's a benefit.

This is truly a historic opportunity to cut the military budget and help
prevent future wars. Urge your representatives in Congress and the President
to put the military budget first in line for cuts.

http://www.justforeignpolicy.org/act/cutpentagonfirst
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4jDhiXn2XEzP%2FU> 

Thank you for all you do to help bring about a just foreign policy,

Robert Naiman, Sarah Burns, Chelsea Mozen, Kate Gould and Megan Iorio
Just Foreign Policy

Please support our work.
Your donation allows us to promote opportunities for Americans to advocate
for a just foreign policy.
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References:

1. "The Debt Deal and Defense Spending," Laicie Olson, Center for Arms
Control and Non-Proliferation, 8/2/2011,
http://www.nukesofhazardblog.com/story/2011/8/2/133157/1318
<http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=gGQmzIa4y7J%2FO2%2BQ
IlxWnxiXn2XEzP%2FU> 
2. "Pentagon Faces Possibility of Hundreds of Billions in Spending Cuts over
10 Years," Elisabeth Bumiller, New York Times, 8/1/2011,
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/02/us/politics/02pentagon.html
<http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=BF1N5EqlBrg95dksQZ87
7xiXn2XEzP%2FU> 
3. "Defense spending cut in debt deal unclear," Josh Rogin, Foreign Policy,
Monday, 8/1/2011,
http://thecable.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2011/08/01/defense_spending_cut_in_d
ebt_deal_unclear
<http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=Jjrt4y1Cd2WAXXSe2ygS
pSIjpMFOcsWS> 
4. "Debt, Deficits, and Defense: A Way Forward," Report of the Sustainable
Defense Task Force, 6/11/2010,
http://www.comw.org/pda/fulltext/SDTFreportexsum.pdf
<http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=uLJlr71zM8dx8Tl7iMHy
QBiXn2XEzP%2FU> 
5. "The Moment of Truth," The National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility
and Reform," 12/2010,
http://www.fiscalcommission.gov/sites/fiscalcommission.gov/files/documents/T
heMomentofTruth12_1_2010.pdf
<http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=DINh%2FbeBBK1AGlELbJ
NjABiXn2XEzP%2FU> 
6. "Restoring America's Future," Domenici-Rivlin task force, 11/2010,
http://bipartisanpolicy.org/sites/default/files/FINAL%20DRTF%20EXECUTIVE%20S
UMMARY_0.pdf
<http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=KNokMdLXt5vH%2Bskd6m
7jvRiXn2XEzP%2FU> 
7. "Budgetary Savings from Military Restraint," Benjamin H. Friedman and
Christopher Preble, Cato Institute, 9/21/2010,
http://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=12151
<http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=quO9KhgEgoGDj20GYJmm
eRiXn2XEzP%2FU> 
8. Transcript, CBS News' Face the Nation, 7/17/2011,
http://www.cbsnews.com/htdocs/pdf/FTN_071711.pdf
<http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=7bvK5uI%2F53eZcLQTBg
9E4BiXn2XEzP%2FU> 
9. "Debt 'Trigger' Has Pentagon Budget In Its Crosshairs, Greg Jaffe,
Washington Post, 08/1/2011,
http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/pentagon-in-cross-hair
s-of-debt-trigger/2011/08/01/gIQAhSt9nI_story.html
<http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=sc06PIA1Oyy0VHxWpc5o
%2FxiXn2XEzP%2FU> 

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