The things we do in the name of National in-Security;
The things we cut to pay the war-mongers' endless Bills;
These are the things, that few politicians ever dare to challenge ...
GOP Budget Subsidizes Military Industrialization on the Frontier of Climate Change
by Heather Gautney, huffingtonpost.com -- April 27, 2015
The United States spends about $600 billion on Defense per year, more than twice as much as the world's other top spenders -- China, Russia, and the United Kingdom -- combined. The number practically doubles to $1 trillion if you factor in our entire national security apparatus.
[...]
Apparently unimportant to the House Majority is the potentially devastating impact of their budget resolution on everyday people -- the $4.5 trillion in cuts to domestic spending on which many Americans deeply depend, including food stamp programs, Pell Grants, Head Start, and Medicaid. The GOP budget will literally take food out of the mouths of infants, refuse preschoolers early education, deny aspirant young people the chance to go to college, and block medical care for the elderly and infirm.
[...] Additional legislation aimed at generating revenue and disincentivizing war -- a "war tax" -- was offered by Ranking Member of the Senate Budget Committee, Sen. Bernie Sanders.
[...]
Senator Bernie Sanders
dares to -- shake up this status-quo Debt machine ...
Sanders wants war spending paid for
by Jordain Carney, thehill.com -- June 10, 2015
[...]
Sanders has long criticized Congress for not paying for wars, and a fact sheet from his office says that the Iraq and Afghanistan wars "were put on the nation's credit card while the president cut taxes for millionaires and billionaires at the same time."
The 2016 contender's amendment to the defense policy bill comes after he called for a "war tax" earlier this year.
Sanders wanted to include a new tax on millionaires to finance the country's wars as part of a budget resolution.
[...]
Imagine that -- actually counting the cost of war,
before we leap ... into them.
Of course with the GOP in charge of our Credit-card War-spending apparatus (the Congress), don't expect this status-quo just Charge-it behavior, to change any time soon ...
Bernie Sanders calls for 'war tax' on millionaires
by Rebecca Shabad, thehill.com -- March 20, 2015
[...]
He’s upset [Sanders] with a provision Senate Republicans added to their blueprint Thursday that would increase defense spending next year by pumping up the Pentagon’s war funding account to $96 billion.
The overseas contingency operations (OCO) account has funded the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and now pays for operations against the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria.
Republicans are depending on OCO, which falls outside the Defense Department’s base budget, to increase military spending. The budget would keep sequestration budget caps in place next year for the Pentagon’s base budget.
Sanders slammed the proposal from Sens. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) and Kelly Ayotte (R-N.H.), which matches what House Republicans are seeking in their separate budget resolution. Sanders called their use of OCO a “gimmick.”
[...]
Unfortunately for fiscally-concerned, peace-loving Americans ...
Proposed Temporary ISIS War Tax Fails At Senate Vote At Hands Of Republicans
by Michelle FlorCruz, ibtimes.com -- March 26 2015
A proposed surtax that would help offset the cost of combating the Islamic State group, proposed by U.S. Sen. Chris Coons, D-Del., and backed by Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., failed after going to a vote Thursday night, 46-54. According to the proposed budget amendment, the tax would have been temporary and used to pay for American military operations to fight the militant group, also known as ISIS, and serve as a reminder that war is not free.
[...]
And really unfortunately for us Average Americans:
Republicans don't need No Stinking Reminders "that war is not free."
Because they really need the stalking-horse In-Security issue as a War-excuse -- in order to keep on defunding those programs that actually help most Average Americans ...