Congressman Ryan has been quoted as saying that he is listening to the defense community who asked him to find ways to cut compensation and retirement benefits for veterans. However, in the past, Congress and Ryan have ignored Defense request and forced them to buy/maintain equipment they did not want or need. So why is he listening to the defense community now? Legislators need to cut the budget but won’t cut defense spending if it affects jobs in their state. So it is easier to cut military retirees since they are spread out over every district and represent a small percentage of their constituents. The companies behind these projects have multi-million dollar lobbying efforts and are major campaign contributors to key lawmakers, according to the Center for Responsive Politics. Below is a list the Pentagon wanted to stop spending on but Congress, including Mr. Ryan, voted to disregard the Defense Experts and make them buy or maintain the equipment no one wants or needs: 1. Congress has authorized almost $500,000,000.00 dollars over two years to build Abrams tanks for the Army. But the Army has said it currently doesn’t need any tanks, and the money would be better used elsewhere. 2. Five programs in 2013 that Pentagon officials have called unnecessary and unaffordable yet Congress fought to have these items put back in the budget. - The Global Hawk Block 30 drone program; - The C-27J Spartan cargo aircraft; - Upgrades to the M1 Abrams tank; - Air National Guard funding; - A proposed East Coast missile defense system.
Posted on: Mon, 27 Jan 2014 01:35:26 +0000
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