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Will Inboden muses about a GOP Congress’s spending priorities:
The Defense Budget: With exploding budget deficits posing a serious threat to the nation’s short and long-term economic health, the next Congress will have no choice but to take a hard look and meaningful action on government spending. This will not spare the Pentagon budget, and Defense Secretary Robert Gates is already ahead of the curve in identifying spending cuts and program cancellations. But cutting fat is one thing; cutting muscle and bone is another. When faced with the need to trim the federal budget, congressional Democrats are more likely to prioritize cutting defense over trimming domestic programs. A GOP Congress would be more willing to make deeper cuts in domestic spending while aligning with Secretary Gates’ priorities in maintaining a robust defense budget.
Whaaa…? That’s one inelegant way of saying “A GOP Congress will not cut defense.” If you think it’s correct, either descriptively or normatively, just say it! Answers to these questions, in their particulars, are usually more parochial than partisan or ideological. And don’t analogize to “muscle,” “fat” and “bone.” Let’s actually argue the merits of particular programs under discussion, like adults.
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Look, I realize this is your job and all, but it’s important to remember that it’s all a sham, a particularly odd kind of dance American legislators and lobbyists do. The key thing to know is very, VERY few of them actually care about reducing the deficit. “Deficit” is a congressional code word for an excuse to eliminate programs you don’t like, usually entitlements. And all the demagoguing on deficit spending has left most people conflating the deficit with the economic problems. The people don’t REALLY care about the deficit (ask anyone who claims they do how big it is), but they think that there is some kind of linkage and if we would just reduce the deficit then uncle Billy could get a job again.
Nobody will cut defense spending, because it creates a political vulnerability. Just as nobody will cut prison/law enforcement spending, nobody will cut subsidies, nobody will cut medicare, nobody will cut veterans benefits, etc etc etc. The only things that get cut will be social safety net programs, education, big science (NASA, NIH etc) and eventually foreign aid.
It’s all just a silly charade, and everybody knows it, and nobody can say it. It will require the US getting much, much closer to sovereign default before anybody takes serious action. And even then…
mikey