A few of our stories and columns are now in front of the paywall. We at The Chief-Leader remain committed to independent reporting on labor and civil service. It's been our mission since 1897. You can have a hand in ensuring that our reporting remains relevant in the decades to come. Consider supporting The Chief, which you can do for as little as $3.20 a month.
To the editor:
The current U.S. defense budget is $968 billion. The next 14 countries with the highest defense budgets come in at a combined spend of $988 billion. The closest to us is China. It spends $235 billion. Russia is third at $146 billion.
Yet President Trump proposes increasing the defense budget by $113.3 billion. But Republican Senator Mitch McConnell thinks this is not enough, calling the proposed increase a "gimmick." Other Republicans agree with him.
Some criticism of the proposed increases have surfaced in the media and from the Public Citizen think tank. But as of this writing — May 3 — there has been no criticism from Democratic lawmakers. This is not surprising. During Democratic presidencies, defense budgets have either increased or faced very small reductions. Democrats have shown as much willingness to cut wasteful defense spending as Elon Musk.
Richard Warren
Comments
No comments on this item Please log in to comment by clicking here