Issue Position: End the Wars, Bring Our Troops Home

Issue Position

As Americans, we enjoy a strong and secure nation. Our men and women in uniform are charged with protecting us and do so in difficult and dangerous conditions.

But we face a different threat from within: a runaway defense budget that threatens the fiscal security of our nation. Our civilian leaders who govern the defense budget don't know how to reduce spending as our overseas obligations approach the projected reductions. We have our budgeted defense spending and our war spending, which is not budgeted. We've spent nearly $1.3 trillion on wars since 2001, adding it directly to our deficit. We have achieved our objectives in the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan and should make steps to immediately end the wars and bring our troops home.

Budgeted defense spending is being subject to automatic reductions since Congress failed to achieve agreements on deficit reduction. However, the reductions are not really reductions at all, but rather a slower rate of growth. Defense pending will only increase by 16% over the next 10 years, instead of 23%. Some defense hawks in Congress have made outrageous claims to avoid the slow down, such as that our military will be at pre-WWI levels, or that we'll have to bring back the draft. We can reduce defense spending while still remaining vigilant to emerging and changing threats.

We don't need to spend money on engines for planes with canceled contracts, for unneeded technologies, or to maintain some of our 700 military bases around the world. The US spends more on defense than every other nation on the planet combined. We can keep necessities, cut waste, save money, and be more secure.

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