Why Am I Thanking Barney Frank?

[Lisa Miller]

You didn't read the title incorrectly. That is Barney Frank to all who are horrified by Dodd/Frank. I personally support an action to overturn this unconstitutional beaurocratic expansion and intervention that institutionalizes bailouts.

 

However, as a native of Washington DC who sees the political money laundering in EVERY budget item, I gladly join this bi-partisan effort in urging our Representatives to support the Mulvaney-Frank Amendment that maintains base military spending at 2012 levels for 2013.

 

This is only a $1.1 billion reduction in the House version which is 17 billion over the budget reduction act and $3.1 billion more than what the military requested. These common sense cuts are supported by both Republicans and Democrats.

 

This amendment only partly deals with non-strategic pork and I welcome it as a necessary start. I am hopeful that the rumor is true that the House is in fact considering cutting more of the spending the military did not request. I also urge them to go back ten years and remove a decade of political spending that doesn’t enhance our strategic military efforts but, due to rapidly accelerating debt, is threatening our future National Security.   

 

What I like about this amendment is it excludes spending on military personnel, the Defense Health Program, and the overseas contingency operations from the freeze. It allows the commanding officers to make strategic spending decisions. It is through this type of amendment that much of the corruption can be removed from the Defense Authorization Bill and keep Congress faithful to the cuts they promised the American people without impacting military personnel or our strategic capabilities.

 

In Liberty,

 

Lisa Miller

Tea Party WDC

www.TeaPartyWDC.ning.com

 

Thank You for Your Leadership in Turning the Tide on Runaway Pentagon Spending

Dear Representatives Mulvaney and Frank:

 

Our organizations write with sincere gratitude for your leadership in offering the amendment to freeze profligate Pentagon spending at Fiscal Year 2012 levels—a $1.1 billion reduction in what was originally proposed in the Defense Appropriations bill for Fiscal Year 2013. The bipartisan passage of this amendment with 247 votes sends a strong signal that Republicans and Democrats agree that it’s time to rein in the runaway Pentagon budget.

 

While this vote was a pivotal political turning point, as you well know, the budgetary effect will be modest. Your amendment will keep base military spending at the FY 2012 level of $518 billion which is still higher than the Pentagon’s requested amount, and much higher than the discretionary spending caps in the Budget Control Act (BCA). Last week the Congressional Budget Office released findings that even if the sequestration mandated in the BCA is enacted, the Department of Defense base budget in FY2013 “would still be larger than it was in 2006 (in 2013 dollars) and larger than the average base budget during the 1980s.”[1] We know you agree that more fiscal restraint is possible.

It is important to note that the American public supports even deeper cuts. According to a recent Stimson Center poll, American citizens favor an 18 percent cut, or a $103.5 billion reduction. What’s more, the Stimson Center found that even when defense spending benefits their districts, voters were still willing to cut such spending.[2]

Indeed, our organizations with diverse ideologies and interests appreciate your strong bipartisan leadership, and support you taking further action to ensure better fiscal stewardship at the Pentagon. Thank you for recognizing that in today’s constrained economic climate, we cannot afford to throw taxpayer dollars away on unneeded or outmoded approaches to national security.

We welcome the opportunity to work again with you and your staffs to further this common purpose.

Sincerely,

Lisa Miller

Tea Party WDC

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[1] http://www.cbo.gov/publication/43428

[2] http://www.stimson.org/books-reports/consulting-the-american-people...