Why new SpeakerMcCarthy should not deliver big cuts to defense
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene. R-Ga., left, Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., center, and Rep. Lauren Boebert, R-Colo., listen during the 15th round of votes in the House chamber as the House enters the fifth day trying to elect a speaker and convene the 118th Congress in Washington, early Saturday, Jan. 7, 2023. f the agreement that earned the House speakership for Rep.
First, let’s understand the arithmetic. When choosing a baseline year against which to measure, it’s not fair to cherry-pick a year in which anomalies skew the picture in favor of one’s own side of the argument. If I were to assert, for example, that “normal” defense spending occurred during the years of the U.S. “surge” in Iraq, it would make a case forhigher outlays, but the case wouldn’t be an honest one.
Additionally, consider what our armed services face now compared to 2012. China’s total military spending is at least a third larger now, even after taking inflation into account, and China has massively improved both the scale and accuracy of its anti-U.S. capabilities and added hundreds of ballistic missiles it did not possess back then.reconstituting
for a major attempt at an expected comeback this year. And all around the globe, instability is greater now than in 2012. Iran is closer to nuclear weapons capabilities than ever, North Korea keeps improving the deliverability of its nuclear forces, and Turkey continues moving in an Islamist direction, away from the West.
For all these reasons, it would be foolhardy, indeed irresponsible, for House Republicans to demand defense cuts back to 2022 levels. Weakness invites foreign aggression. The results could be disastrous.
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