Fixating on DOD Won't Solve America's Spending Problem

Two decades ago, Bill Clinton rode into the White House on the strength of a simple idea: “It’s the economy, stupid.” This four-word slogan was intended to keep Clinton and his team focused on what mattered most.

Currently, our nation is struggling with massive budget deficits, while our national debt is almost $17 trillion. This runaway spending has serious implications for our nation’s future. Not only does it threaten economic growth and our children’s future, but it also threatens our nation’s ability to protect and preserve the cause of freedom around the world—a cause that, as a U.S. military veteran, I know to be of critical importance.

Earlier this year, Washington allowed the payroll tax break to expire, hiking taxes on some 77 percent of American households. As Americans watch their taxes increase, they’re wondering when spending will be addressed. A recent public opinion survey by Rasmussen Reports reflects this concern, with 65 percent of Americans agreeing that Washington should cut spending to ease the nation’s economic woes.

This is only partly true. While the end of the post-9/11 conflicts will allow for some natural contraction in the defense budget (and while Pentagon leaders must continue to focus on rooting out waste and inefficiencies in their budgets), we simply can’t cut enough from defense to balance the books.

Think of it this way: the Department of Defense (DOD) annual budget is roughly $600 billion.  Meanwhile, the projected budget deficit for this year alone is $642 billion, according to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office. So even if you were to completely eliminate the entire DOD, shutting down all military operations and weapons programs, we would still run a deficit of $42 billion this year—without eliminating a penny of the national debt.

Obviously, we’re not going to hang a “Going Out of Business” sign on the Pentagon. And cutting too deeply will further degrade our force readiness and invite instability around the world—a situation we’re already encountering thanks to the ill-considered “sequester” cuts that began in March and a lack of strategic leadership from the White House. So where can we restrain spending to bring the deficit and debt under control?

There’s only one way: if we’re going to fix our fiscal problems, we have to reform (notice I didn’t say “cut”) spending in the entitlement programs of Medicare, Social Security and Medicaid.

With the Baby Boom generation retiring, government spending on retirement and health care benefits will increasingly take over more of the budget; this is a fact, and it’s already happening. This growth is also starting to crowd out critical spending in other areas. Although President Obama claimed he would address these problems in his first term, he hasn’t provided the leadership. Meanwhile, any proposal in Congress to reform these programs has met with obstruction and evasion. 

Unfortunately, it’s politically expedient to accuse spending reformers of wanting to cut, gut, and eliminate these programs. That is not what I’m talking about. Instead, there are modest and straightforward reforms that can be pursued in order to ensure these programs—which millions of seniors and low-income Americans depend on—are preserved and our nation’s fiscal health restored. This is good policy, and if explained properly and robustly defended, can be good politics.

To remain on our current path is to risk continued economic stagnation, and leaving our children with crushing debt and a bankrupt nation. The bottom line is—we are on the path of running out of other people’s money.

To ensure that the debate on spending receives proper focus and specific solutions are discussed, Concerned Veterans for America (CVA) is hosting a special panel presentation in Washington, D.C., on July 11 titled “The Need for Spending Reform.” Speakers will include former Democratic Gov. Ed Rendell of Pennsylvania (FixtheDebt.org), Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), and Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX), who will offer a bipartisan view on what’s needed to tackle the debt. To watch online, go to www.concernedveteransforamerica.org.

By reforming spending in entitlement programs, coupled with reasonable restraint and reforms in defense spending, we can put our nation back on the path to fiscal stability and restore our struggling economy to health. This will ensure that the U.S. is prepared to continue playing its historic role of defending freedom around the globe in the 21^st century.

Those are worthy goals, but to get there, our leaders in Washington have to start with four words: It’s the spending, stupid.