Background and What Can Be CutBackground:
--The U.S. spends almost as much as the rest of the world combined on its military. --The military budget almost doubled during the eight years of the Bush administration. --More than half of all U.S. annual discretionary budget spending goes to the military and war fighting. --Tens of billions are spent on costly and unnecessary weapons systems. --The U.S. maintains more than 800 military bases in almost 100 foreign countries. --The U.S. pours nearly $500,000 per minute into the Iraq war. We can cut military spending substantially without endangering the country's security, and a growing chorus is saying that we should. In November 2008, the Defense Business Board, a Pentagon oversight body, said that major systematic cuts were absolutely necessary because the Pentagon's budget was not sustainable. President Obama has cited $295 billion in annual cost overruns alone. Here is a more detailed list of potential cuts totaling $255 billion. Withdraw in a timely fashion from Iraq = $105 billion in year one Withdraw from Afghanistan = 25 billion Eliminate wasteful weapons systems = 33 billion Reduce active nuclear warheads = 16 billion Close half of US overseas military bases = 51 billion Trim unused air wings and sea forces = 5 billion Eliminated waste in procurement and operations = 20 billion |  Federal Discretionary Spending FY 2009  2008 Military Spending in Billions of Dollars |
Additional Resources
- Could your tax dollars be better spent? Budget Tradeoffs
- PERI: The U.S. Employment Effects of Military and Domestic Spending Priorities by Robert Pollin and Heidi Garrett-Peltier
