Pentagon Proposes Billions in Budget & Job Cuts
- Posted on January 6, 2011 at 5:38pm by
Meredith Jessup
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WASHINGTON (AP) — Defense Secretary Robert Gates will cut $78 billion from the Pentagon budget in the next five years, money that will come from shrinking the military’s ground force, increasing health care premiums for troops and other potentially unpopular cost-saving measures.
The plan, announced Thursday, identifies a separate $100 billion in savings found by the services, including the cancellation of a $14 billion amphibious Marine vehicle. However, the services will be allowed to reinvest that money in new weapon systems and programs that benefit troops.
The move is part of a broader effort to trim fat from the military‘s budget in light of the nation’s ballooning deficit. But parts of the plan could run into opposition from Congress.
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triper57
Posted on January 8, 2011 at 10:19pmIs this really a cut? – “However, the services will be allowed to reinvest that money in new weapon systems and programs that benefit troops.” Sounds more like PayGo.
Report Post »wash1776
Posted on January 8, 2011 at 6:05amYes! Let’s cut the military instead of the wild spending, earmarks, graft, and corruption. That would be doing it the hard way. We already just did enough damage to our military with the Start treaty. The name of it should have been the End treaty. All Russia has to do is get rid of obsolete missiles which they were getting ready to dump anyway. We gave up the ability to make updated missiles to defend ourselves against countries like Iran. Sounds like good old concerned Obummer and his crew, doesn’t it?
Report Post »happyboy
Posted on January 7, 2011 at 9:11pmDEMOCRATS ARE AMERICA’S MOST DANGEROUS EVER PRESENT THREAT.
They are mentally defective due to their living in a decadent drug culture. Yet, the rest of us have to die or suffer for what they do to us. Either they die or we must breakaway from them for our lives.
Report Post »2011 must be the year stars begin to be removed from the US Flag. It is no longer safe for any American to be part of the USA anylonger.
dontbotherme
Posted on January 7, 2011 at 4:28pmThis terrifies me. The constitution gives the Federal Government the authority to maintain a military. Yes there is waste, but my God, leave the soldiers alone. THEY ARE ON FOOD STAMPS & AND YOU WANT TO INCREASE THEIR MEDICAL INSURANCE RATES? Are you nuts? The cuts will not be made on the top. They will go after the bottom… the soldiers. Cut the budgets of the House of Representatives & the Senate.
Report Post »Bernard
Posted on January 7, 2011 at 4:27pmOf all segments of the Government the military is the very last place to start looking for budget cuts. The US is facing a world that is rapidly developing military nuclear programs. Nations like North Korea, Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Cambodia, Venezuela, many nations in Africa, and eventually Iraq (once our troops are withdrawn and Iran steps in) are flexing their muscles and in chorus voicing the words of “war”. The biggest and most difficult player is China who continues to stoke the flames of insurgency and anti US/NATO rhetoric.
Obama’s callous decision to openly state the withdrawal of our troops from Iraq and eventually Afghanistan will give a boost to the Taliban and Al-Qaeda who only need to wait till our troops are removed for them to launch a pan Asian action to their benefit. They will be successful and we will be forced to redeploy troops to these and new regions to a war that has metastasized into something far worse than what we are currently dealing.
Nations like China, India, Iran, Venezuela and Israel have raised the percentage of military spending with a focus of rapidly modernizing and expanding their military, while we are cutting the budget of the only segment that can save us from the eventual wars coming in the near future.
There are plenty of other areas that can be cut. The largest being the over bloated Federal and state governments excluding our defense.
Report Post »conservativesoldier
Posted on January 7, 2011 at 3:22pmIt is true that Govt. Contractors are highly paid, but the cooks, cleaners, laundry people and much of the maintanence staff are people from other countries (i.e. India, Malaysia, Jordan and other contries). They get paid very low wages and there are an a**load of them working on the bases overseas. We can hire alot of them for the cost of one single private. They are quite cost effective compared to putting more soldiers in the sand to take care of all the jobs that go along with running a military installation. I’ve deployed twice and seen the value of contracting out low level jobs. Its the upper level supervisors who are making serious bank.
Report Post »GMI
Posted on January 7, 2011 at 2:20pmAs an Army veteran and retiree, I can attest to the waste in the military. There is a huge difference between the troops that do the fighting and those that don’t. Many jobs done by the military could be done so much cheaper by civilians. Many of the glorified paper/shufflers are also higher ranking officers who command large salaries and benefits. Chop these and use this money to help the actual warfighters, like the 101st Airborne!!!!
Report Post »Bill Wallace
Posted on January 7, 2011 at 1:03pmAs mentioned, the Constitution requires national defense.
It does NOT require a National Endowment for the Arts.
Cut the fat first. Get rid of the idiotic spending and subsidies. Paying farmers NOT to grow crops, things like that. Then, once you eliminate all the stupid things, and the recreational based items, THEN you see what is left over and can be cut from the important programs.
Report Post »Rowgue
Posted on January 7, 2011 at 12:57pmThat amphibious vehicle was completely stupid anyway. Amphibious vehicles are for landing troops on beaches. An unmanned amphibious vehicle is pointless. If you’re not going to land troops then just use a drone. We already have the ability to do recon or blow the crap out of something remotely.
Report Post »NewRodeo
Posted on January 7, 2011 at 12:54pmHow do/will these “cuts” compare with Glenn’s proposals in Broke?
(story suggestion :-)
Are they really cuts, or are they the standard reduction in the increase?
Report Post »chubbzbar
Posted on January 7, 2011 at 12:42pmHow about a 1% cut in everything? Executive, Congressional, Judicial branches, Social Security, Medicare reimbursements, Medicaid, the rest of the mandatory spending and all the discretionary spending — and that is just a start. We all need to get involved in saving our country. The total amount spent is in the trillions. We all can give up 1% –
Report Post »Slevdog1
Posted on January 7, 2011 at 10:49amAt least it’s a start, now how about other parts of government like those pesky entitlements…..
Report Post »kens
Posted on January 7, 2011 at 10:13amLet Gates make the cuts. It will make more sense than what the Congress can come up with.
Report Post »HillsGal
Posted on January 7, 2011 at 8:47amWhen Gates talks about cutting contractors, the idea is to replace them with “Federal Workers” – how can the budget decrease under this scenario? The other fact is contractors supporting the various branches of the services are there to offer continuity since most military rotate out after two to three years and many are sent to Iraq and Afganistan for a short tours during their original assignments because the military is stretched. I can assure many contractors put in long hours especially during budget drills, program reviews, congressional inquiries, program development, and many more instances. Having been a defense contractor for over 20 years, I can assure you the pay is not that great for what you have to do and the people have to work with on the federal level. Many federal workers are such prima donnas they will not even put paper in a copier if it runs out since it is not in their job description If something is sent out wrong or receives some unwanted attention by a higher up, the contractor is to blame. Many feds do not want to do their own work so they continually pile it on the contractor and then take all of the credit. By doing this they advance further up the federal chain. Most contractors eat at their desk while most feds go out to lunch taking “long lunch” breaks. I had one customer who once I left his/her desk with an assigned task would start calling me before I could reach my desk back in my office with revision after revision after revision. I had another customer who refused to make any decisions in talking to the developer of a military weapon so I had to advise her what to say, call the weapons contractor and advise them what was wanted and then hand the phone over to the fed to let them say they approved. Contractors save the government money because they are in a job for longer than the fed or military and know the government rules and regulations and the best paths for procurement and for cost savings. One of my customers received a Presidential citation for excellence in cost savings on a contract for aircraft. In another instance I was able to procure an item that was desperately needed by just talking with the procurement officer and offering him my assistance and working with him throughout the process.
I have seen a lot of problems in the government and mainly stemming from theorganization and management of the federal government. Once a federal worker reaches “career” status it is hard to fire him/her and easier to promote him/her out of the job just to get them out of the office. Many times federal employees become a power unto themselves and it is hard to get anything through their area. The federal government has no incentive to provide the best service. It does not function like a business who has to be proactive in its approach to stay viable.
You may think the reduction in force will bring about some kind of financial boon for the country, but it will not. It is the entitlements that are the major portion of the budget. Medicare, Social Security, and other programs to provide services for free to the public are eating up the budget. Please check on line to see for yourself. No one wants to tackle the major reason we have financial problems and take away or reduce benefits so instead they reduce the defense budget and weaken our military and our ability to protect and defend this country from enemies who are avowed to destroy us. Obama has already cancelled the Missile Defense program and many Americans think we are so superior to others. Think again and when that nuclear missle comes screaming into this country and it will, don’t be surprised and by all means thank the many organizations and people who placed you in that position.
Report Post »RefoundHonor
Posted on January 7, 2011 at 8:40amI should say Defense, not military.
Report Post »RefoundHonor
Posted on January 7, 2011 at 8:39amThere is over a $1 Trillion that can be cut from the military and it would make our National Defense 10x as strong as it is now.
Report Post »Digital Patriot
Posted on January 7, 2011 at 8:35amThe best first step is to get rid of all the pork that Congress keeps putting into the defense bill. These are items the Pentagon DID NOT ask for, but was shoved in there anyway. There have to be billions of dollars there.
Report Post »cykonas
Posted on January 7, 2011 at 7:48amGood start from one very large budget category. Let’s see what the Armed Services committee and Congress do with the proposal. Also, let’s see what the rest of the departments are able to kick in to the effort. We are still in the B‘s and we need to get to the T’s. It’s still going to be darn near impossible to come up with all the cuts that are needed without hitting the Big 3 Sacred Cows; SS and the two Medi’s. Watch the fur fly then!
Report Post »WireWizard
Posted on January 7, 2011 at 6:11amI think this is could be a trap. Remember, this is the Obama administration proposing these cuts, and you know the progressives are no friend to a strong military. I‘m not saying there can’t be cuts in the military… I’ll leave it to better informed people than me to be the judge.
Report Post »Lord_Frostwind
Posted on January 7, 2011 at 4:07amWow, the pentagon is at least trying, I wonder if all the other programs and agencies can follow in their foot steps?
Oh, and one thing Calijohn, while Blackwater is mercenary scum, they have given us at least one good thing over the years, the AA-12. Much more than I can say about some of the other people the government hires to do it’s work.
Report Post »calijohn
Posted on January 7, 2011 at 2:03amit says this was originally posted at 5:38 PM on 1/6/11.
Report Post »i now have all 4 posts.
i take it national security isn’t as important as whatever is on tv?
or are all you just as astounded as i am?
NE Cowboy
Posted on January 7, 2011 at 8:27amOf all the BILLIONS of waisted spending we have in this country, we are going cut Defence?? Why don’t we just send up a big white flag and surender now?? We don’t have enough ground troops to deal with everything going on now, and YOUR GOING TO CUT THEM?? and LOWER THERE PAY by raising there medical costs???? This is just OUTRAGOUS and for the life of me, I don‘t understand why there isn’t more outrage from freedom loving Americans who understand what’s going on here. I’m sure China, Russia, and Iran are quite happy on THIS decision Mr. Gates. GREAT JOB………
Report Post »Hokiedad
Posted on January 7, 2011 at 9:41amWe’ve already surrendered Cowboy. That happened in January 2008. We‘re unfortunately going to finally witness Uncle Sam’s burial. These people loathe the military and everything it stands for especially the “byproduct” we used to call freedom.
Report Post »Rowgue
Posted on January 7, 2011 at 1:07pmDon’t get hung up on lack of posts. This website’s commenting feature sucks. Posts don’t show up for an hour after being made sometimes.
Report Post »calijohn
Posted on January 7, 2011 at 1:54amget rid of private contractors.
Report Post »the troops can peal potatoes, serve mess, do dishes, clean latrines, police the grounds, etc etc.
just like it was done “back in the day”.
by freeing up $40,000 on up per contracted duty, the dod can “hire”/“enlist” more personnel.
“all marines are riflemen”
you end up with troops that are much more dedicated to the u s a than with the mercenaries hired by blackwater, et al.
seems like a win/win.
NoSocialism.com
Posted on January 7, 2011 at 6:50amSounds easy, the problem is that as it is they can’t get ENOUGH troops to enlist. By Hiring Contractors to do some of the non-combat work, they’re able to use ALL troops for Combat instead of taking a bunch of them and moving them to kitchen duty, desk jobs, warehousing, orders and fulfilment and so on and so forth. “Back in the day” there was a draft, and there was no shortage of manpower for EVERYTHING that needed to be done.
Report Post »tamalpass
Posted on January 7, 2011 at 9:19amBack in 83-87 when I was in, we troops did all of it and there was no draft. People could enlist to be cooks, clerks, mechanics, etc, as well as the combat roles. Plus, all went through basic training, which means, in a pinch, everyone was available to fight the enemy. I don’t recall anything being done by private contractors. And we didn’t have to worry about protecting any civilians in our area.
Worked fine, then.
Report Post »Rowgue
Posted on January 7, 2011 at 1:05pmAll male troops are combat troops. Their rating just describes their primary responsibility within the unit. Being a cook doesn’t mean all you do is cook, and you aren’t trained or available for combat tasks.
Report Post »calijohn
Posted on January 7, 2011 at 1:25amthe first scared cow is about to get a trim.
Report Post »calijohn
Posted on January 7, 2011 at 1:29amcould also be sacred.
Report Post »walkwithme1966
Posted on January 7, 2011 at 2:42amYes and it will be really interesting to see which Congress people object the most! If they are against this then they are on my list of Representatives that need to go home next election.
Report Post »http://wp.me/pYLB7-uT
Cemoto78
Posted on January 7, 2011 at 8:32amI believe when Robert Gates leaves we will have lost probably one of the best Defense Secretaries ever. He is really a no-nonsense type of guy that concentrates on doing the right thing no matter who’s toes he steps on. I’d love to see him head up the EPA and see how they can be brought back into line.
Report Post »Hokiedad
Posted on January 7, 2011 at 9:37amThere‘s alot of waste in the DOD for sure but my guess is they won’t touch on that. I predict we see a bunch of programs cancelled and cutbacks in things we need more than cutting out waste at the top. Remember that program cuts means more job loss in the private sector. Defense spending is a HUGE job creator. Everybody is for cuts as long as it’s not in our back yard.
Report Post »bht579
Posted on January 7, 2011 at 9:45amLet me see if I understand this …..
America is spending too much money, so the Pentagon needs to reduce costs. Therefore, they will begin the destruction of our United States Armed Forces by reducing numbers in the Marines and Army by 47,000. Have I got this right?
Yet, the Hawaiian golfer who occasionally sits in our Oval Office spent about $200 Million per day on his India trip, needed 40 planes to accompany him and rented all 570 rooms at the Taj Mahal Hotel.
What’s wrong with this picture?
Report Post »taskmaster78
Posted on January 7, 2011 at 10:46amThis is not a “sacred cow” this is the only thing that constitutionally required to do, protect this nation, a mandate. This is not where they should start with ground troops, start with outside contractors, civilian contractors are not doing this for our safety and to see the cost of a toilet seat shows the greed being perpetrated at our expense. We have hundreds of duplicate agencies, lets start there. As well as NPR funding cuts, ACLU funding cuts, NEA cuts and on and on.
Report Post »happyboy
Posted on January 7, 2011 at 8:58pmWHAT IS LEFT OF AMERICA IS SURRENDERING AND DISARMING. SOON AMERICA WILL ONLY HAVE A TOKEN SELF DEFENSE FORCE LIKE CHILIE AND BOLIVIA.
Democrats have finally succeeded in subverting the US Military. Soon Democrats will propose that we rely on the UN for our defense needs.
2011 must be the year the stars begin falling off of the US flag.
Report Post »happyboy
Posted on January 7, 2011 at 9:04pmIN NOW TAKES A TWO YEAR WAIT TO GET INTO THE USAF
The USAF no longer needs anyone because they no longer have any aircraft, Democrats have defunded every new modern fighter, bonber or transport they have requested. Rumsfild wanted to modernize the US Military with state-of-art weapons systems but the Democrats honded him out of the office. Democrats want a US Army that is prepared to fight an 1860s Civil War style conflict anywhere around the earth.
2011 must be the year when the stars begin falling off of the US flag.
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