Only Seven In Senate Vote Against Military Waste
President Obama’s military budget started out at record-breaking levels, and as it has made its way through Congress, it’s only gotten worse. Earmarks and military spending that the military itself says would be useless were pumped into the military appropriations bill in order to provide money to well-connected political donors. Insertion of 2.5 billion dollars in unnecessary spending for C-17 cargo planes was only the most recent instance of outrageous waste in the 2010 fiscal year military budget.
Today, the military appropriations bill came up for a vote in the United States Senate. Only seven out of the 100 members of the Senate had the sense or courage necessary to vote against the wasteful legislation. Only one of these senators, Russ Feingold, was a Democrat. The others were senators John Barrasso, Tom Coburn, Michael Enzi, John McCain, Jim DeMint and Lindsey Graham.
This vote bodes poorly for progressive activists, who have long urged the Democratic Party to fund needed social programs through sensible military budget cuts. The Democratic Party is now presiding over the short changing of health care reform and climate legislation while expanding the military budget just as the Republicans did under George W. Bush. Will progressives pretend not to notice, or will the finally withdraw their support for the Democratic Party leaders who have strung them along?
