Pentagon Warns Congress Over Possible Spending Cuts

Insists Failure to Increase Spending Could Have 'Tragic Consequences'

Faced with a Congress determined to do something about soaring budget deficits the Pentagon has kept up the offensive to ensure that the record military spending budget is never considered more than an afterthought in spending cut talks.

We shrink from our global security responsibilities at our peril,” insisted Secretary of Defense Robert Gates, who has been pushing a record 2011 budget, and is poised to start the push for an even larger 2012 budget.

Though some freshmen Congressmen have insisted that every department must be considered a target for cuts, which hasn’t set well with the Pentagon, who has promised “cuts” that never actually reduce the budget, and to Congressmen who are committed to the some pet war spending program or another.

Gates has been fairly regularly chastizing Congress for not approving whatever budget he demands, and officials say the lack of approval for the record 2011 budget, which leaves them at “only” the record 2010 budget, has put the military in “crisis.

The expense of world empire is clearly growing precipitously, and is putting the military’s budget under renewed scrutiny. It seems, however, that this enormous cost has done nothing to the Pentagon’s sense of entitlement, and fights against even modest cuts are expected to be fought vigorously.

Author: Jason Ditz

Jason Ditz is Senior Editor for Antiwar.com. He has 20 years of experience in foreign policy research and his work has appeared in The American Conservative, Responsible Statecraft, Forbes, Toronto Star, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Providence Journal, Washington Times, and the Detroit Free Press.