No Austerity for Military Budget in 2014
http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2013/12/27-3
NDAA offers limited reforms to Guantánamo and military sexual assault policy, yet keeps 'war economy' dollars flowing
No Austerity for Military Budget in 2014
- Sarah Lazare, staff writer
Published on Friday, December 27, 2013 by Common Dreams
In an era of bipartisan agreement on austerity cuts to vital services and workers' benefits, military-industrial-complex spending will continue into the new year untouched.
President Barack Obama signed into law on Thursday the National Defense Authorization Act for the fiscal year 2014 that allots $526.8 billion for the Pentagon's budget and $80 billion for the war in Afghanistantotaling nearly $607 billion in defense-related spending.
This is nearly $30 billion more than was agreed to in the bipartisan federal budget deal that was also signed by Obama on Thursday.
The passage of a National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) that calls for $30 billion more for the Pentagon and allied agencies than is contained in the recent budget deal passed by both houses of Congress is just the latest indication that defense hawks continue to live in their own world, untroubled by fiscal constraints, said William Hartung, director of the Arms & Security Project at the Center for International Policy.