House progressives introduce bill to cut Pentagon spending by $100 billion
Mike Brest
The House co-chairs of the Defense Spending Reduction Caucus reintroduced legislation on Wednesday that would cut the Department of Defense’s budget by $100 billion.
Reps. Barbara Lee (D-CA) and Mark Pocan (D-WI) reintroduced their People Over Pentagon Act because they argue current defense spending levels prop up the military-industrial complex at the expense of the taxpayer.
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“Year after year, this country pours billions into our already-astronomical defense budget without stopping to question whether the additional funding is actually making us safer. We know that a large portion of these taxpayer dollars are used to pad the pockets of the military industrial complex, fund outdated technology, or are simply mismanaged,” Lee said in a statement.
The National Defense Authorization Act appropriated $858 billion for defense spending in fiscal 2023, including $817 billion for the Department of Defense, up from the $813 billion that President Joe Biden requested. The year before, the NDAA’s topline was $768 billion.
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“By cutting $100 billion from the defense budget, this bill prioritizes urgent needs like healthcare, education, and infrastructure over padding the pockets of defense contractors,” Pocan said. “More defense spending does not guarantee safety, but it does guarantee that the military-industrial complex will continue to get richer.
These House progressives could find unlikely allies in a handful of hard-line conservatives who have also publicly called for defense cuts.
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Many Republicans have argued that the Pentagon’s diversity and inclusion efforts should be cut. There are some in the party, specifically within the House Freedom Caucus, who believe spending levels should be decreased further than that.