USA spends more on military then 26 countries combined. Which 25 are allies. Their is no country trying to invade the USA and hasn't since Japan. USA can cut 85% of our military and still be the most powerful country in the world. 2013 USA spent $711 Billion on military for ( 1 COUNTRY ). These 12 countries China, Russia, UK, France, Japan, India, Saudi Arabia, Germany, Brazil, Italy, South Korea, Australia combined only spent $670.9 Billion on
military for ( 12 countries ).
USA has been a country for 227 years, we have spent 209 of those years at war. This is just another waste of $601 Billion dollars. It never ends. Just like the Boneyard at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base AZ. 21 Brand new C271 aircraft's worth $1.6 Billion scrapped. Like who cares, it's only $1.6 billion to throw away in trash. Why not it's not our money HAHAHA.
This March 14, 2014 file photo shows House Armed Services Committee Chairman Rep. Howard P. “Buck” McKeo
WASHINGTON (AP) — The House
defied the Pentagon on Thursday, overwhelmingly backing a $601 billion
defense authorization bill that saves the Cold War-era U-2 spy plane,
military bases and Navy cruisers despite warnings that it will undercut
military readiness.
A White House
veto threat — reiterated just hours before the vote — had little impact
in an election year as lawmakers embraced the popular measure that
includes a 1.8 percent pay raise for the troops and adds up to hundreds
of thousands of jobs back home. The vote was 325-98 for the legislation,
with 216 Republicans and 109 Democrats backing the bill.
Hours
later, the leaders of the Senate Armed Services Committee announced the
completion of its version of the bill that backs several of the
Pentagon proposals while breaking with the administration on some
weapons.
Most notably, the
Senate panel "created a path to close Guantanamo," said the committee's
chairman, Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich., a long-sought goal of President
Barack Obama. Under a provision of the bill, the administration would
have to produce a comprehensive plan for transferring terror suspects
from the U.S. naval facility in Cuba that would be subject to a
congressional vote.
The Senate
panel backed the administration on some personnel benefits and a 1
percent pay raise for the military, while breaking with the
administration by sparing the A-10 Warthog close-support plane and an
aircraft carrier.
Certain to
frustrate the administration was a provision that would authorize the
military to train and equip vetted Syrian rebels battling forces loyal
to President Bashar Assad.
The Senate bill must be reconciled with the House version.
Rep.
Howard "Buck" McKeon, R-Calif., chairman of the House Armed Services
Committee, defended his House bill and rejected the suggestion that the
measure was a "sop to parochial interests," arguing it makes "the tough
decisions that put the troops first."
But
the panel's top Democrat, Rep. Adam Smith of Washington state,
complained that the House rejected the Pentagon's cost-saving proposals
and came up with no alternatives.
"We ducked every difficult decision," Smith said.With the ending of two wars and diminishing budgets, the Pentagon had proposed retiring the U-2 and the A-10, taking 11 Navy cruisers out of the normal rotation for modernization and increasing out-of-pocket costs for housing and health care.
Republicans,
even tea partyers who came to Congress demanding deep cuts in federal
spending, and Democrats rejected the Pentagon budget, sparing the
aircraft, ships and troop benefits.
An
increasingly antagonistic White House issued a veto threat on Monday,
and Chief of Staff Denis McDonough reinforced that message in a private
meeting with House Democrats on Tuesday morning. Late Wednesday, the
White House issued another veto threat over restrictions in the bill on
President Barack Obama's ability to transfer terror suspects from the
prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
The full-throated message had little influence.
Rep.
Kyrsten Sinema, D-Ariz., highlighted her vote for the bill and its
importance to her home state, where more than 150,000 have defense or
defense-related jobs. Her colleague, Rep. Ron Barber, D-Ariz., praised
the A-10 Warthog, which trains in Tucson.
In
committee, Rep. Jim Bridenstine, R-Okla., a former pilot and tea party
favorite elected in 2012, spared three of seven AWACS aircraft based at
Tinker Air Force Base in his home state.
The
House engaged in a spirited debate over post-Sept. 11 laws and
practices, and whether they are overly broad and still viable nearly 13
years after the terror attacks. Lawmakers pressed to sunset the
authorization given to the president to use military force, to end the
indefinite detention of terror suspects captured on U.S. soil and to
close the U.S. naval facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
The House rejected all three amendments to change current law.
To
address the pervasive problem of sexual assault in the military, the
bill would change the military rules of evidence to prohibit the accused
from using good military character as defense in court-martial
proceedings unless it was directly relevant to the alleged crime.
The
"good soldier defense" could encompass a defendant's military record of
reliability, dependability, professionalism and reputation as an
individual who could be counted on in war and peacetime.
Overall,
the legislation would provide $495.8 billion for the core defense
budget, $17.9 billion for energy programs within Pentagon spending and
$79.4 billion for the war in Afghanistan and other overseas operations.
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