In today’s Wall Street Journal, Edwin J. Feulner, president of the Heritage Foundation, Arthur C. Brooks, president of the American Enterprise Institute, and William Kristol, a director of the Foreign Policy Initiative, co-authored an op-ed on House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan’s “Path to Prosperity” budget. Here’s an excerpt: In an election year, it’s all too easy for politicians to defer hard choices until after the polls have closed in November. House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan (R., Wis.) has taken the more difficult road with his “Path to Prosperity” budget. … More
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The Republican Study Committee (RSC) budget introduced today addresses six key fiscal criteria. It launches decisive entitlement reforms, cuts spending sharply and quickly, avoids tax hikes, includes pro-growth tax reform, provides for a strong national defense, and moves aggressively—within five years—to a balanced budget. The plan falls short in substantiating many of its significant spending cuts with adequate policy detail, but it is an ambitious effort aimed at solving the twin crises of spending and debt. The plan contains $3.4 trillion in entitlement savings. It repeals Obamacare. It includes a … More
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The defense commitments in Chairman Paul Ryan’s (R–WI) budget proposal, “The Path to Prosperity: Restoring America’s Promise,” are a step in the right direction. The budget makes a down payment on the defense the United States needs, moving toward rebuilding a defense posture that has been strained by 10 years of war. The proposal is consistent with the principle that national defense is the federal government’s most important priority, whereas President Obama’s budget will make defense the lowest priority by later this decade. Under the Budget Control Act of 2011, … More
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In early January, President Barack Obama traveled across the Potomac River to the Pentagon and joined Defense Secretary Leon Panetta to discuss his Administration’s military strategy, promising that he would keep America’s fighting forces the best-trained, best-led, best-equipped military in history. Unfortunately, he’s not keeping that promise, and meanwhile, China’s military is growing by leaps and bounds. China announced this week that its new defense budget would total approximately $106 billion — an 11.2 percent increase over its previous budget. That’s on top of last year’s 12.7 percent increase, making … More
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As China prepares for the final plenum of the 17th Party Congress, it has announced that the new defense budget would amount to 670 billion RMB (approximately $106 billion), which equates to a 11.2 percent increase. This is in sharp contrast to the United States, which, despite a so-called “pivot to Asia,” is busily reducing its defense budget. The increase in China’s defense spending, atop last year’s 12.7 percent increase, highlights that China’s defense spending is now larger than that of all other Asian nations combined—a sobering statistic when one … More
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President Obama’s budget proposes a sharp increase in entitlement spending and more outlays for domestic programs and interest on the national debt. Defense spending, meanwhile, takes a backseat to Obama’s other priorities. The long-term outlook: Obama would make defense the lowest budget priority among the major categories of spending in the federal budget. “The combination of the budget request and the Budget Control Act of 2011 would reduce the military’s personnel levels and force structure to the point that they could no longer protect U.S. vital interests and keep U.S. … More
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In a recent Wall Street Journal column, George Will criticizes the GOP for failing to provide a national security policy that Americans would agree upon. Will argues that Obama has stolen the GOP advantage on national security as a result of the GOP’s reluctance to gut the defense budget. Will notes that the U.S. defense budget “is about 43 percent of the world’s total military spending—more than the combined defense spending of the next 17 nations.” To put this argument in perspective, Americans spend 14 times more money on charitable … More
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The Defending Defense project—a joint initiative of AEI, the Foreign Policy Initiative, and the Heritage Foundation—brought together Senators Jon Kyl (R–AZ), Kelly Ayotte (R–NH), and Lindsey Graham (R–SC) and Representatives Howard P. “Buck” McKeon (R–CA), J. Randy Forbes (R–VA), and Marsha Blackburn (R–TN) on Thursday to discuss the implications of President Obama’s new strategic defense guidance and fiscal year 2013 budget proposal for the Pentagon. Former Senator Jim Talent of The Heritage Foundation moderated the discussion, and Thomas Donnelly of AEI gave closing remarks. Senator Kyl began the event by … More
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America’s military is witnessing yet another attempt to recast the negative impact of massive defense cuts, this time in a report by the Council on Foreign Relations that attempts to illustrate the effect that slashed spending will have on U.S. forces and security. Unfortunately, the report uses some of the same ill-founded assumptions that the Obama Administration has made to justify cutting defense spending, thereby failing to paint an adequate picture of how U.S. military readiness will suffer under these new constraints. The council divides the military into “winners” and … More
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America’s military is witnessing yet another attempt to recast the negative impact of massive defense cuts, this time in a report by the Council on Foreign Relations that attempts to illustrate the effect that slashed spending will have on U.S. forces and security. Unfortunately, the report uses some of the same ill-founded assumptions that the Obama Administration has made to justify cutting defense spending, thereby failing to paint an adequate picture of how U.S. military readiness will suffer under these new constraints. The council divides the military into “winners” and … More
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