Pentagon gets billions more
Military pork comes from housing cuts
By Gary Wilson
Congress is quietly, almost secretly,
increasing military spending while cutting back on social
programs in order to "pay for it."
On March 31, the House of Representatives voted to cut
low-income housing assistance, bilingual education programs,
airport modernization funds and other domestic social programs
to pay an additional $2 billion for military operations in Iraq
and Bosnia.
As it stands, the bill would force 800,000 Section 8 housing
recipients onto the street next year.
The Senate has already passed a similar bill.
While the Democrats mostly voted against the bill, and the
White House is threatening a veto, their opposition is only to
making the cuts. There has been no voice of opposition to the
constantly expanding military budget.
The cuts are draconian and must be stopped, say progressive
activists. Workers' organizations, including welfare rights
groups, have been the most vocal opponents of the proposed
cuts. "If anyone should be made homeless, it's Congress,"
commented a workfare union organizer in New York.
Why they can't win
The Democrats fail to effectively oppose the cuts because
they are firmly committed to the Pentagon's military operations
against Iraq and the former Yugoslavia. In fact, Democrats have
been some of the most vocal champions of these military
operations.
This leaves them vulnerable to the right-wing's solutions.
If military spending must be increased, the funds have to come
from somewhere. Both Democrats and Republicans are firmly
opposed to increasing taxes on profits. So the only way to
increase military spending is by cutting services.
So even though the Democrats claim to be against the cuts,
they set themselves up to always lose the argument.
What's at issue is the military's ever-expanding budget. The
official budget figure has been and will continue to be a
falsehood. Secret increases and additional funds hidden in
other budgets have made military spending well over half-close
to three-quarters-of all government spending in the United
States.
Driving this demonic spending spree are the forces of
imperialism-the stage of capitalism dominated by huge banks and
corporations.
The military-industrial complex that emerg ed in the United
States after World War II now virtually dictates government
policy. According to a report in the March 30 New York Times,
the money the military industry spends to buy Congress-through
campaign contributions and "lobbying"-dwarfs that spent by all
other industries.
The top four dozen military contractors gave congressional
candidates $32.3 million in the period 1991 to 1997. The
tobacco industry, commonly presented by the media as the top
contributor to congressional campaigns, spent $26.9 million in
the same period, the Times reported.
The top six companies alone-Lockheed Martin, Northrop
Grumman, Textron Inc., Raytheon, Boeing and McDonnell
Douglas-gave Democrats and Republicans more than $15 million
over the last six years. This has guaranteed that big weapons
projects have not been cut. In fact, they've been expanded at a
time when everything else was being cut.
These weapons systems are for one purpose: military
operations like the U.S. occupation armies in the Balkans and
the massive strike force that continues to surround Iraq.
Any politician who really is against cuts in housing for the
poor can't vote for military expansion and operations against
Iraq and Yugoslavia.
This article is copyright under a Creative
Commons License.
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