Dem: US credit down because of military spending.....

[MMC]

WASHINGTON (AP) — The senior Democrat on the House Financial Services Committee says the biggest reason the United States is seeing its credit downgraded is that it spends too much money being "the military policemen of the world."

Rep. Barney Frank tells CBS's "The Early Show" that reining in defense spending is "going to be my mantra" for the next few months.

The liberal Massachusetts Democrat says $200 billion could be saved "without in any way endangering our security" by dialing back U.S. military involvement in the world, including operations in Western Europe.

Here Frank gets on National Television and out-right lies to the American people.....blaming the spending on Defense. Yet he knows that like with Libya, that the US would have to replace all the Tomahawks that were fired off. Each one slightly over 500k. We already heard what the S&P stated. Funny they didnt mention that. But they did talk about the Dems not coming up with any plans. This windbag consistently plays the game with Finance.....

So is the failed politician from Massachusetts blowing more hot-air? Or is it that he refuses to listen to any independant experts. Should we shut down all this pricks air time on TV as he is a part of the problem and not the solution. Is this lame anywhere close to being right? Thoughts

[Mister D]

Defense is an issue. We don't need many bases in Europe but entitlement spending, particulalry the unfunded commitments, are key.

[Conley]

Definitely...we need cuts across the board and the idea that there is no fat to be trimmed in the defense budget is laughable. That is where a lot of the corruption lies, as those funds are easier to get and less frequently reviewed. We are past the point of getting to pick and choose minor programs to slice and dice. The democrats are full of it. This Libya operation isn't going to pay for itself either. That was supposed to be Iraq :D

[Mister D]

Definitely...we need cuts across the board and the idea that there is no fat to be trimmed in the defense budget is laughable. That is where a lot of the corruption lies, as those funds are easier to get and less frequently reviewed. We are past the point of getting to pick and choose minor programs to slice and dice. The democrats are full of it. This Libya operation isn't going to pay for itself either. That was supposed to be Iraq :D


Yeah, I'd rather leave the defense budget alone but we can't. It has to trimmed and made more efficient. On the other hand, unfunded commitments are the main issue.

[Juggernaut]

Defense is a queer response from Frank because its not as big a problem as entitlement spending which is now greater due to Obamacare obligations and the fact insurance and healthcare costs have risen since 2008. Remember the so called Grand Bargain? It had defense and entitlement cuts but dems had a meltdown. Without broad cuts were doomed to more failures and increased deficit spending.

We have room for defense cuts, why didn't Obama make the cuts that former Sec. Def. Gates offered? What a weakling, the cuts are there and Obama does nothing. Is that Bush's fault too? :o

[MMC]

Frank is a joke.....this guy has been on the finance committee. Has been a part of the problem. Yet the point that was maed by S&P was not about the US Military Cuts.

[wingrider]

I guess the dems forgot to research history before they made this statement..

Under JFK who is the demigod of the dems defense spending was 50 percent of the budget.

today it is about 20 percent of the budget.

[waltky]

VA reforms held up from spending bill...
:angry:
VA Reforms Removed from Massive Spending Bill
22 Mar 2018 | WASHINGTON -- A deal collapsed to include multiple VA reforms in a spending bill that Congress formulated to prevent a government shutdown.


Earlier this week, the bill was set to contain a measure to overhaul the VA Choice program, which veterans use to access private-sector medical care. A deal reached between key House and Senate lawmakers on VA oversight also included an expansion of benefits for veteran caregivers, as well as a plan to initiate a systematic review of VA infrastructure, with the intention of disposing of aging and underused facilities nationwide. When Congress unveiled its $1.3 trillion, 2,232-page bill Wednesday evening, the VA reforms had been omitted. Sen. Johnny Isakson, R-Ga., and Sen. Jon Tester, D-Mont., leaders on the Senate Veterans' Affairs Committee, predicted earlier Wednesday that the reforms would not be included in the final version of the spending bill.

Tiffany Haverly, a spokeswoman for Rep. Phil Roe, R-Tenn., the chairman of the House Committee on Veterans' Affairs, said Roe's team worked to push for the VA reforms up until the bill was released. House Democrats were opposed to the deal. Griffin Anderson, a spokesman for Democrats on the House Committee on Veterans' Affairs, said they were against a measure to expand caregiver benefits because it didn't provide a clear way to fund those changes. Benefits such as monthly stipends, respite care and counseling are now only available to caregivers of veterans injured after the 9/11 terrorist attacks, which veterans and advocates say creates an unfair discrepancy. Changes to eligibility have been stalled for years in Congress because of the high cost of expanding benefits to more families. For Democrats, expanding the benefits is a top priority, but not without funding, Anderson said. "Yes the program would be authorized, but there would not be any money to fund this expansion," he wrote in an email.

Democrats also worried a measure to create an asset-review commission tasked with making decisions on VA facilities would severely limit Congress' authority to oversee VA infrastructure. They argued the measure didn't include funding to pay for infrastructure improvements. Arguably the most pressing measure -- and most debated -- is the proposed change to the Choice program. House Democrats believe the Choice overhaul included in the deal isn't enough of a revamp from the current program, Anderson said. The Choice program was created in 2014 in response to the VA wait-time scandal to ease demand on VA services by sending veterans into the private sector. Negotiations of potential changes to the program have created disagreements and delays in Congress and highlighted divisions between VA leadership and White House insiders. The option of more choices in health care for veterans was a promise that President Donald Trump offered during his election campaign. The crux of the dispute is how far veterans' health care should be pushed into the private sector.

Everyone involved in negotiations seems to agree the next iteration of the program should do away with the rules that allow veterans to go into the private sector only when they live more than 40 miles driving distance from a VA facility or have to wait longer than 30 days for an appointment. But House Democrats think the Senate's proposal -- the one intended for inclusion in the spending bill -- "makes virtually zero changes to eligibility from the current, arbitrary 30-day, 40 mile rule," Anderson said. Roe wrote a letter Tuesday to House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., urging her to support the VA reforms. The measures also had the backing of eight large veterans organizations, all of which signed onto a letter to congressional leaders Monday encouraging the deal. They described the moment as a "historic opportunity" to pass multiple VA reforms at once.

MORE (https://www.military.com/daily-news/2018/03/22/va-reforms-removed-massive-spending-bill.html)

[Ransom]

Our annual spending on Medicaid and medicare.....currently sits at 1.2 trillion. Our social security...one trillion annually. Our income security, the interest on our debt, and federal pensions add up to more than we're spending on our military, total defense spending currently sits at under 700 billion a year.

Our entitlements not even mentioned by Frank are the major issues and dominate our debt numbers. Our military is a fraction of spending when it's supposed to be the government's top priority.

[Tahuyaman]

The left believes that spending cuts can only happen in the area of national defense. Everything else is a sacred cow.