Please find below a statement from Ms. Ryan Alexander, President of Taxpayers for Common Sense on the defense cuts announced today by Secretary Robert Gates:

“TCS is pleased to see the Defense Department finally acknowledge what we have said for years. Underperforming, overpriced weapons systems such as the Expeditionary Fighting Vehicle are a drain on taxpayers’ wallets and must be stopped. Other reforms announced by Secretary Gates today, such as lessening DOD’s dependence on contractors, also reflect our longstanding call for the department to become more fiscally accountable, and we applaud these efforts.

Yet it’s important to remember that these efforts represent essentially a reprogramming of military funds, not a reduction to the base budget – which has already jumped more than 40 percent from its prewar level. The proposals are also far less extensive than those recommended by other deficit reduction bodies, including the recent bipartisan fiscal commission. This is all the more reason for Congress to follow its stated commitment to fiscal discipline and implement what Gates himself acknowledges are modest reforms.”

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