GOP senator outlines $68 billion in defense cuts
Defense spending could be slashed by $68 billion over 10 years if the military stopped spending millions on running grocery stores, operating its own schools and even developing a roll-up version of beef jerky, insists one of the Senate's leading fiscal conservatives. In a new report, Republican Sen. Tom Coburn dubs the Pentagon the "Department of Everything."
Coburn details how the Pentagon could save money - vital in a time of rampant federal deficits - if it eliminated duplicative and excessive programs that have nothing to do with the nation's security. By turns sober and cheeky, the report points out that the Pentagon has spent more than $1 million on the 100-year Starship Project, including $100,000 for a workshop sure to attract Trekkies. One of the discussions was titled "Did Jesus Die for Klingons Too?"
"Our nation's $16 trillion debt is the new red menace, posing perhaps a greater threat to our nation than any military adversary," the report says in chilling Cold War terms.
