In the News

Congress’ Massive To-Do List

Congress came back to town this week and there is plenty to do in the brief time both chambers are in session during September. First,...

Obama and the GOP Hawks

By all accounts, President Obama’s efforts to lobby Congress in support of military intervention in Syria are going poorly. Perhaps most...

VA Budget Skyrockets Despite Federal Spending Cuts

DAYTON -- The Department of Veterans Affairs spends more today in inflation adjusted dollars than it did after World War II and the Vietnam...

Don’t Bomb Us Back to the Fiscal Stone Age

The decision by the President to seek Congressional debate and votes regarding military action against Syria is the talk of Washington this...

Don’t Use Syria to Pump Up Pentagon Spending

(CNN) -- A number of conservative hawks, including Senator John McCain and House Armed Services Committee chair Howard P. "Buck" McKeon,...

The Pentagon’s Place in this Fall’s Budget Battle

Treasury Secretary Jack Lew says the U.S. will reach its $16.7 trillion borrowing limit in mid-October. Unless Congress acts, a big part of...

Letter to the Editor: Congess Adds to the Pentagon’s Budget Bloat

Walter Pincus hit the nail on the head with his Aug. 27 Fine Print column, “The defense appropriations shuffle.” There are still billions of...

Okla. Sen. Inhofe criticizes military budget cuts

OKLAHOMA CITY — U.S. Sen. Jim Inhofe of Oklahoma condemned budget cuts to the nation's armed services Tuesday, telling a group of...

Oklahoma GOP US Sen. Inhofe to run for 4th term

TULSA, Okla. (AP) — Oklahoma Republican Sen. Jim Inhofe said Wednesday that he will seek a fourth term in the U.S. Senate, telling...

Conservative Groups Urge Open Rule on Defense Appropriations

Conservative groups and budget watchdogs on Monday urged House Republican leaders to abandon a plan to limit debate on the largest annual...

Rep. Mulvaney gets win in U.S. House on defense cuts

WASHINGTON — U.S. Rep. Mick Mulvaney, R-S.C., gained a major legislative victory Wednesday as the House passed his measure to reduce...

ROMERO: Putting spies on a leash

The spirit of Massachusetts lawyer James Otis is awakening in Congress with a vote scheduled for the House floor Wednesday to limit...

Conservative groups push Republican leaders to open up Defense bill

A group of 11 conservative organizations are calling on Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) to keep the Defense Appropriations bill open to all...

Immigration debate continues for Tennessee senators

Even though Tennessee's senators insist otherwise, critics say the immigration reform legislation they helped pass amounts to amnesty for...

Blog del Narco: Bill Calls for 40 helicopters on the Border with Mexico & Boon to US Companies

A fleet of 40 helicopters will be deployed along the border with Mexico if the security amendment included in the immigration reform bill is...

Immigration Deal Would Boost Defense Manufacturers

The border security plan the Senate approved last week includes unusual language mandatingthe purchase of specific models of helicopters and...

Fantasy budgeting won’t make us safer;  Lawmakers should make targeted and smart Pentagon budget cuts

The watchword in Washington has been "cut" for some time. But the House of Representatives headed in the opposite direction when it adopted...

Fantasy Budgeting Won’t Make Us Safer

The watchword in Washington has been “cut” for some time. But the House of Representatives headed in the opposite direction when it adopted...

The farm bill, food stamps, and the future of crop subsidies

This week, the Senate passed a five-year, half-trillion dollar farm bill on a bi-partisan 66-27 vote. Now, it's on to the House of...

Lets Wise Up About Defense Spending

The House Armed Services Committee is voting on the fiscal year 2014 National Defense Authorization Act this week and will turn it over to...

How Contractors Raked in $385 Billion to Build and Support Bases Abroad since 2001

Outside the United States, the Pentagon controls a collection of military bases unprecedented in history. With U.S. troops gone from Iraq...

Held up by MOX(y)

Sometimes, even in Congress, one can overplay one’s hand protecting turf. Consider the South Carolina delegation’s sharp objection to...

Immigration bill may set funding, regulatory gaps in border security

The Senate’s pending immigration bill sets aside $3.5 billion for additional surveillance of the country’s southern border, or roughly $1.79...

Price Increases for U.S. Military Gear Dwarf Most Nations’ Defense Budgets

Here’s an example of what Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel was talking about in his Wednesday speech on reforming the way the Pentagon buys...

U.S. deal with Saudis means $253 million for Lockheed training unit

Lockheed Martin Corp. has received a deal worth $253 million to build fighter-jet flight simulators and other training systems for Saudi...

Morning Defense

Biden to welcome Hagel - Senate CR advances - Sequester solutions brewing? - Lawmakers blast AF over sexual assault case - AIA faces...

Left and Right Unite in Call for Congress to Cut Defense Spending

One positive thing that the sequestration mess has done is bring liberal and conservative groups together in calling for serious reductions...

Defense Cuts May Not be as Bad as the Pentagon Would Have us Believe

Soldiers are not above politics and the dire warnings we’ve been hearing for months about sequester “gutting” the military may have been...

Defense cut damage viewed as overblown

WASHINGTON — The warnings only grew more dire as the deadline approached. Automatic cuts to national defense, Pentagon leaders insisted,...

Retired Army Col. Robert L. McDaniel, 88, fought costly helicopter project

Robert L. McDaniel, a retired Army colonel and combat helicopter pilot who later led a campaign against a costly Pentagon helicopter project...

Cut federal spending in a smart way: Our view

In certain circles, the fashionable view is the automatic budget cuts that kick in today won't be so bad. The cuts - $85 billion this year...

Sequester would hurt Memphis, Mid-South

WASHINGTON — The Mid-South stands to lose millions in federal payroll dollars and see a decline in overall consumer spending if the...

What Congress Could—But Won’t—Do on Sequestration

The automatic across-the-board budget cuts know as sequestration are only three days away and the only thing that appears certain is that...

Bipartisan coalition calls for reforming sequester’s defense cuts

A diverse collection of 22 interest groups has signed a new letter urging Congress to make cuts to the Defense Department on the scale of...

There’s plenty to cut at the Pentagon

(CNN) -- Over the past few weeks we have been bombarded with tales of woe from Defense Secretary Leon Panetta, the Joint Chiefs of Staff and...

The Truth-O-Meter Says: Barack Obama says sequestration cuts will be indiscriminate

Over the past few years, President Barack Obama and Congress have lurched from one fiscal crisis to another. The latest, known as...

How to Make Democrats and Republicans Agree on a Sequester Deal

As we look ahead to the sequestration set to take effect at the end of the month, we are already hearing the voices from all sides offering...

Truth-O-Meter: Marco Rubio says sequester was Obama’s idea

Florida Sen. Marco Rubio delivered the Republicans’ response to the State of the Union address, criticizing President Barack Obama on policy...

Defense cuts a necessary step to control deficit

In a couple of weeks we will have a chance to revisit the holidays and immerse ourselves in all things “sequestration.” The deal brokered...

Fiscal reform needs accountability, less agency overlap

Government fiscal reform needs to come in the form of accountability, prioritizing by need and training if long term success is to be seen,...

Sequestration is still better than the alternatives

Late last year, then-Republican Study Committee Chairman Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH) said of the impending sequester, “The only thing that’s...

Common Sense Ways to Reduce Wasteful Federal Spending

This article is part of a weekly series held by U.S. News and it's Economic Intelligence blog....

Budget Cutters Eye Nuclear Reprocessing Plant

Given the threat of sequester, supporters of a $4.8 billion mixed oxide fuel fabrication facility worry that the Obama administration may be...

Cost Overruns Plague Energy Department Projects

The Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility, known as MOX, isn’t the only high-profile project by the Energy Department’s National Nuclear...

Cut defense, but cut it the right way

PICAYUNE — Republicans, and many Democrats, are upset by the prospect of so-called sequestration cuts to the nation’s defense budget....

Start Cutting Government Spending With the Defense Budget

As we look ahead to the many fiscal milestones Congress will face in the coming months, it is worth spending a few minutes thinking about...

Pessimistic DOD Prepares for the Worst

Defense Secretary Leon Panetta pessimistically announced Thursday that the DOD has “no other choice but to prepare for the worst,” and plans...

Byron York: Defense spending can and should be cut—in the right way

Republicans, and many Democrats, are upset by the prospect of so-called sequestration cuts to the nation's defense budget. Pentagon chief...

Solving the Fiscal Impasse Starts and Ends at the Pentagon

As Afghan President Hamid Karzai returns to the United States this week, he will meet President Barack Obama at a time when the overwhelming...

Pentagon sponsors parade float, football games while facing budget cuts

As the nation hung perilously close to the fiscal cliff and the Pentagon faced its steepest budget cuts in history, the military was...

UP with Chris Hayes: Hurricane Sandy relief, a look back at the 112th congress, Chicago’s homicide rate

On Sunday’s Up w/ Chris Hayes, we’ll discuss the negotiations — and the roadblocks — that have held up the relief bills for Hurricane Sandy...

Military Experts Actually Want Twice The Level Of Defense Cuts That Are In The Sequester

If the sequester goes into effect on January 1st, we will see over time a $500 billion reduction in security spending (which includes the...

The Choice is Between “Guns and Guns”, not “Guns and Butter”

There was a Bipartisan Congressional letter calling for Defense Cuts, ie  Less US Guns Roaming the World. Every single Libertarian leaning...

Nearly 50 percent of Americans get federal benefits

 Thousands of Idahoans rely on money from the federal government for health, retirement or just to stay out of poverty. That dependence is...

Right, left call for defense cuts

Fiscal conservatives and liberal Democrats are calling on party leaders to include “substantial defense savings” in a deficit-reduction...

Toss Wasteful Defense Weapons Programs Off the Cliff

Many of us in the Congressional Progressive Caucus recognize that no serious plan to address the deficit can go forward without defense...

Pork Will Find a Way

How Congress can fund its pet projects -- even without earmarks....

Politico Morning Defense 11/28/2012

IS TODAY THE DAY FOR THE NDAA? Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said yesterday he plans to bring the defense authorization bill to the...

Solution to Fiscal Cliff Should Include Senator Coburn’s $68 Billion in Pentagon Spending Cuts

By Christopher Preble The fiscal cliff is looming and Washington is scrambling to reach a deal to avoid a Thelma and Louise ending in...

Connecticut defense firms first in line to fall over fiscal cliff

Washington -- Among the first to fall over the federal government's looming fiscal cliff will be defense contractors, including those who...

You can reduce the deficit without touching entitlements. But that won’t make it more popular.

You can reduce the deficit without touching entitlements. But that won’t make it more popular. The Washington Post Posted by Suzy Khimm...

Ryan Alexander, Taxpayers for Common Sense, discusses how the U.S. could avoid the fiscal cliff with cuts almost twice the size of sequestration.

How to Avoid Fiscal Cliff With Less Pain CNBC Mon 01 Oct 12 | 04:50 PM ET Ryan Alexander, Taxpayers for Common Sense, discusses how the...

How to cut $2 trillion, according to Taxpayers for Common Sense

How to cut $2 trillion, according to Taxpayers for Common Sense Washington Business Journal Date: Tuesday, October 2, 2012, 6:20am...

Fiscal Cliff: Candidates Fiddle While America Does a Slow Burn

Fiscal Cliff: Candidates Fiddle While America Does a Slow Burn October 2, 2012   “Continued split government is just one reason to...

Taxpayer group maps out an escape plan for 2013’s ‘fiscal cliff’

Taxpayer group maps out an escape plan for 2013's 'fiscal cliff' By Erik Wasson - 10/01/12 12:42 PM ET   The nonpartisan Taxpayers for...

Downsizing the military

Washington's looming defense "sequester" would slash the Pentagon's budget by $55 billion a year. Would that imperil the nation? posted on...

South Carolina has $15 billion-a-year stake in military

South Carolina has $15 billion-a-year stake in military By Andrew Shain The State Published: October 1, 2012   The military could be...

US group urges $2 trillion alternative to fiscal cliff “time bomb”

US  group urges 2 trillion altenative to fiscal cliff "time bomb" By Richard Cowan WASHINGTON | Sun Sep 30, 2012 4:55pm EDT (Reuters)...

Ryan Alexander: Armend with Irony

Ryan Alexander: Armed with Irony If lawmakers really want to stop blank checks for spending binges, they should start with the...

‘Fiscal cliff’ plan was leap of faith

By James Rosen Republicans withdraw previous support for the strong budget controls. Republican congressional leaders are backing away...

Bipartisan House Defense Panel Erupts in Shouting Match

 The House Armed Services Committee has long taken pride in a spirit of cross-party cooperation. But when Jeffrey Zients, the White House\'s...

DepSecDef Carter Warns Of Training Shortfalls If Sequester Happens; HASC Hearing Marked By Shouting, Silliness (AOL Defense)

CAPITOL HILL: Congress and the Obama administration should thank their lucky stars that hardly anyone watched this morning's House Armed...

Congress Plays War Games with Defense Budget

As the defense industry and its allies in the Pentagon and Congress stepped up their drum beat Wednesday about the dangers that scheduled...

Federal Distress

When it comes to shipping supplies, the Department of Defense is no Federal Express. DOD loses track of sixty percent of the $5 billion in...

Syria: Excuse 535 To Not Cut the Deficit

Volume XVIII No. 37 Possible action in Syria has become the most recent excuse du jour for Pentagon boosters...