Pentagon Budget Remains Bloated, Proposed Cuts to Social Programs Are Shameful
Statement of Robert Weissman, President, Public Citizen
Note: Today, President Donald Trump released his annual budget proposal, which included cuts to numerous federal programs while keeping high defense funding.
Slashing assistance for the hungry, health care for the poor and student loan assistance while maintaining an abhorrently bloated Pentagon budget is stupid, shameful and cruel – and entirely expected from the Trump administration. What justification can there be to throw more money at the Pentagon when it cannot even pass an audit and when U.S. Pentagon spending outdistances the next seven top-spending military budgets combined?
Just cutting back on wasteful contracting at the Pentagon would save $26 billion annually – exactly the amount advocates say is needed to end hunger in the U.S.