The Real Tea Partiers Want the Military Budget Slashed

• ptown_trojans_1

  

  Footwedge;680436 wrote:"When the budget was signed into law on October 28, 2009, the final size of the Department of Defense's budget was $680 billion, $16 billion more than President Obama had requested.[3] An additional $37 billion supplemental bill to support the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan was expected to pass in the spring of 2010, but has been delayed by the House of Representatives after passing the Senate.[4][5] Defense-related expenditures outside of the Department of Defense constitute between $319 billion and $654 billion in additional spending, bringing the total for defense spending to between $1.01 and $1.35 trillion in fiscal year 2010.[6]"
  
  
  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Military_budget_of_the_United_States
  
  Reference from wiki is footnoted.

  
  Yeah, that includes FBI CT, DHS, the VA and the Energy Department's nuclear weapons budget/ national labs, etc. including State Department and USAID budget usually.
• ptown_trojans_1

  

  Well, this is good news: House votes down the F35 2nd engine, a move recommended by Gates and Obama.
  http://content.usatoday.com/communities/onpolitics/post/2011/02/republican-spending-cuts-budget/1
  
  Move saves an estimated 3 billion.
• ptown_trojans_1

  

  Kind of shoots the whole Obama weak on nukes and defense argument:
  http://gsn.nti.org/gsn/nw_20110216_1095.php
  
  Major Budget Boosts Sought for Nuclear Labs
  Wednesday, Feb. 16, 2011
  
  The Obama administration has requested $2.3 billion for operations in fiscal 2012 at the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico, a 24 percent increase from 2010 spending levels, the Albuquerque Journal reported (see GSN, Feb. 15).
  
  The proposed Energy Department budget would provide $300 million toward design operations for the Chemistry and Metallurgy Research Replacement complex, which would succeed a plutonium laboratory that is more than six decades old (see GSN, Feb. 11).
  
  The Sandia National Laboratories in New Mexico would receive $1.6 billion in the fiscal year that begins on October 1, a 16 percent funding boost that would benefit the laboratory's efforts to sustain the U.S. nuclear deterrent. Updates to B-61 nuclear gravity bombs are under way at the site.
  
  The two laboratories, both involved in nuclear-weapon operations, would together receive a 20 percent in additional funds over two budget cycles under the administration's proposal.
  
  "The president's budget is good news for our national security, and it tales our [National Nuclear Security Administration] responsibility seriously," Representative Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.) said. "It puts them (the labs) in a good position to work on nonproliferation and to work on the [New] START treaty and to do the things they need to do with the weapons program. I think it's a very reasonable approach" (Fleck/Coleman, Albuquerque Journal, Feb. 15).
  
  The Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee would receive $1.4 billion, a level of funding comparable to spending in prior budgets, the Knoxville News Sentinel reported yesterday. The Y-12 National Security Complex in Tennessee would receive $1.06 billion, including $160 million for work on the planned Uranium Processing Facility (see GSN, Jan. 20; Frank Munger, Knoxville News Sentinel, Feb. 15).
  
  Republican lawmakers in the House of Representatives, though, last week proposed a continuing resolution that would curb nuclear weapons modernization funding increases incorporated in the proposed fiscal 2011 budget, which has not been passed (Fleck/Coleman, Albuquerque Journal, Feb. 15). Federal spending has been largely frozen at fiscal 2010 levels under an earlier continuing resolution approved by Congress in December.
  
  The proposed funding reductions could inflict severe damage on operations at the Oak Ridge laboratory, ORNL Director Thom Mason said on Monday. As spending at the site has remained for months at fiscal 2010 levels, a possible 18 percent reduction for the remaining fiscal 2011 cycle would be almost prohibitively deep, he said (Munger, Knoxville News Sentinel).
• ptown_trojans_1

  

  House Republican Fail: They are defunding what their own party in the Senate argued for during the New START Treaty debates, the increase to the maintenance of the U.S. nuclear stockpile.
  They also are defunding the Nonproliferation budget, specifically, the program that the President is using to help secure all loose nuclear material.
  The Senate will probably put back in the funds in the CR, but still, fail by the R's.
  http://thecable.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2011/02/17/house_funding_bill_cuts_1_billion_from_nuclear_security_and_nonproliferation
• ptown_trojans_1

  

  Geesh, the House R's even went against the Chairmen of the Committee on Strategic Forces, Michael Turner (R), from our great state of Ohio.
  
  Lawmaker Sees Budget Proposal Endangering Nuke Funds
  Thursday, Feb. 17, 2011
  
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  A key Ohio lawmaker yesterday echoed warnings that a budget proposal under consideration in the House of Representatives would cut into nuclear arsenal modernization funding increases backed by President Obama late last year, the Knoxville News Sentinel reported today (see GSN, Feb. 16).
  
  In an effort to win congressional backing for a new strategic nuclear arms control treaty with Russia, the Obama administration last year agreed to spend billions of additional dollars over five years to update the U.S. nuclear weapons complex (see GSN, Nov. 19, 2010). The new funds were expected with begin with increases in the fiscal 2011 budget, but that budget has not been passed, and federal spending has been largely frozen at fiscal 2010 levels under a continuing resolution approved by Congress in December.
  
  The current measure expires on March 4. A GOP-backed continuing resolution that would cover the remainder of this budget year could curb the new funds, House Strategic Forces Subcommittee Chairman Michael Turner (R) said.
  
  "Creating and paying for a sustainable deterrent is not going to be easy," Turner said during a nuclear deterrence event near Washington, D.C. He said he has joined efforts to "educate" lawmakers on potential consequences of failing to rapidly update the nation's nuclear deterrent. He added he was also discussing the matter with House Appropriations Committee members.
  
  Appropriations for the National Nuclear Security Administration, which oversees the U.S. nuclear weapons complex, are in particular danger because the funds are not considered "security" spending, he said. (see GSN, Jan. 26).
  
  The Senate or President Obama might ultimately reject the continuing resolution, some have speculated, but Turner also expressed concern about the reliability of continued nuclear weapons spending after 2011 (Frank Munger, Knoxville News Sentinel, Feb. 17).
  
  http://gsn.nti.org/gsn/nw_20110217_7625.php
  This has failboat all over it.
• O-Trap

  

  ptown_trojans_1;682510 wrote:This has failboat all over it.

  
  I have to be honest, after such an astute, educated synopsis of the details surrounding the situation, it was really funny to read this.
• ptown_trojans_1

  

  O-Trap;682513 wrote:I have to be honest, after such an astute, educated synopsis of the details surrounding the situation, it was really funny to read this.

  
  I just find it funny they are cutting off what the Senate Republicans worked so hard to get, and that is really, really needed. It apparently hasn't dawned on some of the House R's that the Nuclear Weapons budget and nonproliferation budget is under the Department of Energy.
  Glad I produced a laugh ha.
• O-Trap

  

  Some Republicans aren't nearly as fiscally conservative as they'd have people believe. They act like it until you touch the military. Then, they start spending like they stole the money from the local liquor store.
  
  That, as well as most of their social agenda, is why I never joined the Republican Party.
• I Wear Pants

  That's why I never have and never will join any party.
• ptown_trojans_1

  

  Thing is the money for the nuclear weapons complex is actually needed. It is for upgrading facilities that are 40-60 years old and building new facilities that can ensure our nukes are safe, reliable and effective. It was a condition the Senate put in the New START language that if we are to reduce our nukes, we have to ensure the ones we will have work. The money is for that.
  The nonproliferation budget is for securing loose nuclear material, which I think we can all get behind. But, since it is not in the defense department, some House members didn't think.
• CinciX12

  

  Whoa, whoa, whoa! Are you trying to tell me that Sarah Palin doesn't speak for the Tea partiers?
• Con_Alma

  The Tea Partiers existed before Ms. Palin began associating with them. I don't know that she is an approved representative of them but the two have similar ideologies on certain issues.
• CinciX12

  

  I think that they disagree on a lot of issues. Palin latched her tentacles out and grabbed on to something that would still keep her relevant.
• Con_Alma

  CinciX12;682951 wrote:... Palin latched her tentacles out and grabbed on to something that would still keep her relevant.

  ...and make her money. Seems like a wise move to me.
• CenterBHSFan

  

  The press keeps Sarah Palin relevant. They have the option of totally ignoring her, but they don't. They can't get enough of her so she's in the spotlight pretty often. I say BRAVA! to her
  
  Also keep in mind that there's ALOT of Americans who like her and what she stands for.
  Times they are a changin'.
• stlouiedipalma

  Hey, count me among those rooting for her to be the Republican nominee in 2012.
• tsst_fballfan

  

  I'd take her over Nanci Pelosi everyday of the week!
• stlouiedipalma

  I don't think you'll ever have to worry about Nancy running for Prez. A Palin candidacy, however, really gets me excited.
• O-Trap

  

  Con_Alma;682954 wrote:...and make her money. Seems like a wise move to me.

  The problem with politicians who have a thirst for money is, the tax payers foot their salaries.
  

  stlouiedipalma;683124 wrote:Hey, count me among those rooting for her to be the Republican nominee in 2012.

  LOL!
  

  tsst_fballfan;683202 wrote:I'd take her over Nanci Pelosi everyday of the week!

  If those end up being the candidates ... everyone loses.
• tsst_fballfan

  

  O-Trap;683225 wrote:... If those end up being the candidates ... everyone loses.

  I agree O-Trap. Just saying it could be worse! lol
  
  edit: and Pelosi was actually second in the line of succession : pulls out gun and shoots self:
• Bigdogg

  Speaking of the Tea Baggers, here is one entertaining the masses in Columbus yesterday. He is Cincinnati attorney Jack Painter, who lives in the high-income neighborhood of Indian Hills near Cincinnati. He’s the head of the Indian Hills Tea Party, on the Advisory Board of the Cincinnati Tea Party, and on the Board of Directors of the Ohio Liberty Council which has claimed as its mantle as being the statewide organization of the so-called “Tea Party” movement.
  
  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=veHkhfE5Ndw&feature=player_embedded
• CenterBHSFan

  

  Bigdogg, you always make yourself so uninteresting by using terms such as "teabaggers".
• ptown_trojans_1

  

  Bigdogg;683282 wrote:Speaking of the Tea Baggers,

  
  You are not helping.
• O-Trap

  

  ptown_trojans_1;683320 wrote:You are not helping.

  It makes me want to defend them ... oh the horror ...
• Bigdogg

  O-Trap;683336 wrote:It makes me want to defend them ... oh the horror ...

  
  I love the little devils, actuality friends with one of them.