Woolsey Challenges Boehner To Cut Military Waste
Last weekend, Lynn Woolsey, leader of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, pledged that Democrats in the caucus would be pushing House Republicans hard to enact responsible policies. Yesterday, we saw the beginning of that push.
In response to assertions by incoming Speaker of the House John Boehner that the Republicans will work to cuts in wasteful spending, Woolsey challenged Boehner to support the elimination of wasteful spending in the U.S. military on weapons systems that the Pentagon itself says it doesn’t want or need. Woolsey said,
“There has been much noise made on the other side of the aisle about the size of government and supposedly out-of-control Federal spending. But many of the same folks using those talking points haven’t exactly shown great restraint when it comes to the defense budgets. So I will be curious to see when they take over the majority in January, will they move to cut bloated defense programs, or does their zeal for spending cuts extend only to those domestic programs that are helping struggling families get through a recession? That bottom line, Mr. Speaker, is this: You are not serious about closing the deficit unless you are prepared to put military spending on the table.”
