Budget Analysis: Iowans For Sensible Priorities

We know budgets and bureaucracies and large institutions, and we understand the influence that large sums of money can have on an organization such as government. We know that large programs can live on for years after the need has changed, stealing money from more pressing needs. We have a practical solution: By working together as business people through BLSP, we have the power to get our voice heard by the media, by politicians, and by the public. We believe that it is our civic duty to use that voice in service to the children of our country and of the world.

The focus groups we organize convince us that business leaders and retired military leaders have the credibility to speak on issues of national budget priorities. These groups have demonstrated that once people are aware of Pentagon spending compared to the rest of the world -- along with the federal government budget pie charts -- they see the need to shift money to higher priorities.

Pentagon spending began to rise at the end of the Clinton Administration and has accelerated throughout the Bush Administration. This is true even without counting the supplemental budget requests that fund both operations in Iraq and the on-going war on terrorism (above the dashed white line.)

So now, more than a decade after the fall of the Soviet Union, we are spending well above the Cold War average, even after the effects of inflation are removed. Think about that fact for a moment-we are spending more money than we did to deter the second greatest power the world has known, which had thousands of tanks and aircraft, tens of thousands of nuclear warheads, and millions of well-armed troops. While we were deterring World War III, we also fought a couple of hot wars, Korea and Vietnam, and conducted a myriad of other operations around the world.

That world has changed. As the Second Gulf War-and the overthrow of the Taliban in Afghanistan-showed, small, highly trained forces using modern combat doctrines are more than capable of dealing with any conventional foe we are likely to encounter. And the war against al-Qa'ida and terrorism in general is fought mainly with law enforcement, homeland security, and intelligence, not bombers and submarines.

Our current defense program, then, is largely the result of a failure of will on the part of our political leaders and of our system for funding our political process. We are running our defense effort on autopilot, while the world itself and the situation within our country in particular have changed. Counting the costs of operations in Iraq and DoD portion of the war on terrorism, the Department of Defense now consumes a larger percentage of discretionary spending (that is, after social security and other mandatory programs) than all other parts of the federal budget-health, education and all infrastructure programs-combined. The Departments of Homeland Security and Justice together amount to less than one-tenth of the level allocated to DoD.

At Iowans Sensible Priorities, we feel it is time to get readjusted to reality. We have enough money. We can provide for the needs of our and the world's children at no additional expense to the taxpayer. We can accomplish this through:

Finally canceling Cold War weapon systems
Funding our real defense needs at 85% of the 2005 request, a level that will still exceed spending by any possible coalition of military threats by a factor of four (without counting in spending by our allies!).
Working closely with our allies so that we more equally share the burden of a safer world
As a result of the above, shifting spending to the other elements of our national well being, particularly education, health care, and national infrastructure, *without increasing overall government spending.* For example:
-	Provide Head Start & Early Head Start for all eligible kids:	$ 5 billion/year
-	Provide healthcare for all uninsured US kids:	$15 billion/year
-	Rebuild America's schools over a 10 year period:	$15 billion/year
-	Achieve energy independence, with clean technology:	$10 billion/year
-	Double US humanitarian aid to poor countries:	$20 billion/year
-	Reduce debts of impoverished nations:	$10 billion/year

We also believe that we bear the responsibility of helping our nation break out of the tight relationship between spending on unneeded weapons and the political influence these programs generate. We must lead the effort to redirect these resources to the areas where they are most needed. We must spread the message that all Americans will enjoy a higher standard of living once we wean ourselves off of pork barrel programs and pay closer attention to the other pressing requirements that comprise our real national security.