Oct 30 2009
Claims of Obama’s Victory Over Military Lobby Overstated
President Obama signed the military authorization bill earlier in the week, setting aside $680 billion of federal funding for the Pentagon. For months the President had been railing against waste in the defense budget and warned that he would veto any bill that included certain expensive projects such as F22 fighter jets and airborne lasers. Congress obliged for the most part, and the bills signed on Wednesday did not include several billion dollars worth of military equipment and projects. Also excluded from the budget was $11.2 billion for a fleet of presidential helicopters, and $7.5 billion for training and equipping the Afghan National Army. Not all the President’s requests were honored by Congress, and he responded by saying, “changing the culture in Washington will take time and sustained effort.” But, the New York Times reported that the move is part of a political strategy for the President to appear to be taking a strong stand on at least this issue. The Pentagon budget now includes $550 billion for the fiscal year 2010, with an additional $130 billion more for the Iraq and Afghanistan wars.
GUEST: Frida Berrigan is Senior Program Associate of the Arms and Security Initiative at the New America Foundation
One Response to “Claims of Obama’s Victory Over Military Lobby Overstated”
Barry Obama cares about getting richer. You don’t do that by opposing the U.S. Military, the most powerful and oppressive organization on the planet Earth.
The People are easily misdirected. They thought the Executive was Martin Luther King. The People are easily fooled.