Invitation: BLSP joins Congressman Barney Frank in his call to reduce defense spending
Congressman Frank has called for a 25 percent reduction in defense spending—a statement that generated considerable media attention. In this presentation he will spell out how this is possible: by ending the war in Iraq, eliminating weapons systems that do not enhance our national security, and tightening financial controls and oversight. Congressman Frank will be joined in a panel discussion by BLSP Advisor and Center for American Progress Senior Fellow Lawrence Korb, as well as other defense budget experts.
Tuesday, February 24, 2009, 10:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m.
House Financial Services Committee Room
Room 2129, Rayburn House Office Building
South Capitol and C Street, SW
Washington D.C.
Message from Krisila Benson, BLSP Project Director
The advent of the Obama administration puts the goal of Business Leaders for Sensible Priorities within reach: trading wasteful defense spending for investment in the building blocks of our nation’s future such as education, health care, and a low-carbon economy.
President Obama has committed to both rationalizing defense spending and funding a bold domestic agenda. The new administration has a broad-based mandate for change and a clear idea for a new direction in public policy. But this is not enough to ensure that there will be a change in our budget priorities.
President Obama cannot make spending decisions without the concurrence of Congress, which continues to be a tough sell. BLSP’s agenda competes for Congress’s attention with wealthy, well-organized, and politically entrenched defense contractors. In the first three quarters of 2008 alone the three biggest defense contractors spent a combined total of $41 million on lobbying. Weapons contractors are also taking advantage of today’s economic situation to sound the alarm that defense spending is being cut and with it jobs. Members of Congress who may personally believe in the BLSP agenda are hesitant to take a public stand either out of concern over job losses in the home district or concern about appearing soft on defense.
Under President Bush, Secretary Robert Gates developed a fiscal year 2010 DOD budget of $584 billion, a 13 percent increase over the FY09 budget. This excludes wartime supplemental spending, which is likely to bring FY09 defense spending closer to $700 billion. According to press leaks, the Obama administration will ask for $527 billion for defense spending in FY10, a 2.3 percent increase over 2009 levels. But because Gates’ $584 billion figure was already made public Obama is being accused of decreasing defense spending by 11 percent and not supporting national security—making it harder to defend what is in fact an increase in defense spending. The actual budget the administration proposes for FY10 will be submitted to Congress in March or April.
The need is as important as ever for BLSP to proactively create a climate where changed budget priorities can become a reality.
From its new home at the Center for American Progress, BLSP will have even more opportunities to leverage its members’ credibility to speak to fiscal issues with both mainstream and new media and to directly reach out to legislators and their staffs. CAP has gained additional prominence in the past few months with John Podesta, the president and CEO, taking a leave of absence to head Obama’s transition team, and a number of CAP staff have been named to positions in the new administration. CAP has the expertise and infrastructure to feed new policy positions into the marketplace of ideas, and through its sister organization, the Center for American Progress Action Fund, the ability to advance these policy recommendations with members of Congress and the executive branch.
Eliminating wasteful defense spending and re-allocating the money to invest in human capital is more important than ever. We are already saddling the next generations with a vast public debt from the war in Iraq, the bailout of the financial sector, and the economic stimulus package. A well-educated, healthy, competitive workforce, and a sustainable, energy-independent infrastructure will be essential for the United States to maintain its competitive advantage in the marketplace. Today’s economic crisis requires that we rationalize our defense budget so that we can continue to finance critical public and collective goods.
We hope that you can join us in Washington D.C. next Tuesday as we support Congressman Barney Frank’s call for a reduction in Pentagon spending. If you are unable to attend, I look forward to meeting you in person at other BLSP events in Washington D.C. and around the country.
We will keep you, the engaged business leader, abreast of the latest developments in the policy debate, BLSP’s work, and opportunities for you to engage through monthly newsletters and our new website, which will be up shortly. Revising our federal spending to reflect the priorities we as a nation hold cannot happen overnight, but with our help, it can happen.
Sincerely,
Krisila Benson
Project Director
Business Leaders for Sensible Priorities
Center for American Progress
Building a Military for the 21st Century: New Realities, New Priorities
President Obama has to contend with two wars, a military readiness crisis, recruitment and retention problems, mounting equipment shortages, and an out-of-control defense acquisition process. Today’s security imperatives and budgetary realities will require the Obama administration to make hard decisions and difficult trade-offs on competing visions of the military and its role in implementing national security strategy.
These trade-offs will have wide-ranging consequences for the size and structure of the force and what procurement and modernization options are feasible in order to advance overall U.S. national security interests. Read an analysis from the Center for American Progress of the state of the military and a plan for rebuilding the military and saving money by reshaping the budget.
