House liberals have talked about cuts to defense programs for years, said Lee. But Republicans controlled Congress for most of the Bush administration and complaints about defense spending have gone largely unheard.
The rise of Obama, who surged to victory with the support of the Democratic Party’s most liberal voters and his criticism of the Iraq war, gives House progressives new hope.
Rep. Lynn Woolsey (D-Calif.), the other co-chairwoman of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, has endorsed the Black Leadership Forum’s and LULAC’s calls for defense program cuts.
“Yes, I will support that call,” said Woolsey.
“There are cuts to [weapons] systems that would be more valuable on the domestic front,” she said.
Woolsey said having a strong national defense was important but that the next president of the United States should recognize the difference between what is needed for defense and for acting like a “bully” abroad.
From 2000 to 2008 the budget from the Department of Defense has soared from $290 billion to $481 billion, according to Steven Kosiak, vice president for budget studies at the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments, a nonpartisan group.
This growth does not include supplemental spending for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Total U.S. military spending in 2008 is expected to approach $700 billion.
Meanwhile, discretionary spending for domestic programs has barely grown, according to the estimate of a prominent left-leaning think tank.
The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities found that domestic discretionary spending per American increased only 0.3 percent from 2001 to 2008 when adjusted for inflation. That means that spending on a variety of welfare, education, and healthcare programs funded through the annual appropriations process has remained flat.
By contrast, defense and security spending per American has gone up more than 8 percent between 2001 and 2008.
Rep. Raúl Grijalva, a Hispanic Democrat from Arizona, said he would support a review of defense programs that he considers outdated. Many House liberals believe some of the Defense Department’s biggest weapons programs are no longer needed at a time when adversaries in Iraq and Afghanistan have killed thousands of Americans with relatively simple weaponry.
“I think we should re-evaluate programs to see if savings can be used for domestic priorities,” said Grijalva.
Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-Ore.) said he would advise the next president to reassess spending on programs “created to fight an enemy that no longer exists.”
“If I were advising the administration, it would be at the top of my list,” he said.
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