defense budgets 101: the truth about military spending
DESCRIPTION
Because budget negotiations failed, America's men and women will suffer nearly $500 billion in cuts over the next decade -- in addition to $889 billion in already approved reductions -- unless Congress acts bu January 2.TRANSCRIPT
Defense budgets 101: The truth about military spending
To incentivize a long-term debt reduction deal, members of Congress last year set up painful mandatory cuts called sequestration.
Because budget negotiations failed, America’s men and women in uniform will suffer nearly $500 billion in cuts over the next decade – in addition to $889 billion in already approved reductions – unless Congress acts by Jan. 2.
Many believe that cutting defense will provide a solution to ballooning debt and deficits. But defense isn’t the source of the problem – entitlements are. Nonetheless, under sequestration, major entitlements comprise only 15% of the cuts while 43% of cuts come from the military’s budget.
GUNS VS. BUTTER
It has become popular to use charts like this to argue that defense spending is really growing…
Source: Office of Management and Budget; Department of Defense; Congressional Budget Office; CRS Report RL33110. Data Note: War funding accounts for military and Overseas Contingency Operations (OCO). Produced by Veronique de Rugy, Mercatus Center at George Mason University.
50%
18%
13%
19%
People
Operations
Research and Devel-opment
Procurement
What does the defense budget buy? It’s not all about wars and weapons. It’s about people and families. Half of spending -- $254.6 billion – in the defense budget pays for personnel expenses in the form of salary, allowances, benefits, and retirement.
That is opposed to $257.9 billion spent in fiscal year 2012 on operations, procurement, and research and development combined.
THE HUMAN COST OF DEFENSE CUTS
Costs include $135.1 billion for military personnel pay, allowances and retirement; $76.5 billion for civilian personnel pay and benefits; $31.4 billion for the Defense Health Program; and $9.7 billion for the Medicare-Eligible Retiree Health Care Fund. The fiscal year 2013 budget also calls for $853.6 million for housing and $2.74 billion for the Department of Defense Dependents Education, which operates all education for military families around the world.
PAYING IT FORWARD
