House GOP insists on spending cuts to reduce the deficit...then balks at military spending cuts

As I stated in my previous post, the government has a spending problem, period. Spending is projected to rise to unprecedented levels and I believe the Republicans are correct to take income tax increases off the table and insist on getting spending under control.

If they want to take this stand, however, then how can they refuse to make any defense cuts whatsoever, and pass a $649.2 billion appropriations bill that includes $118.6 billion for wars overseas? Not only did the House GOP refuse to freeze Pentagon spending at 2011 levels, they even refused to cut funding for military bands or Pentagon sponsorship of NASCAR.

This is not only stupid, but frankly, hypocritical. Yes, entitlements comprise the bulk of the long-term budget problem. But how can you repeatedly make a case for the need to cut spending, then refuse to cut ANY spending from a huge number of programs that you happen to like? This is the kind of political brinkmanship that needs to disappear from Washington, ASAP.

And House Republicans would do well to remember this quote from President Eisenhower, who if I recall correctly was both a general and a Republican:

"Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed...Under the clouds of war, it is humanity hanging on a cross of iron."