Exposing Their Misguided Defense Spending Priorities

CORE MESSAGE

Spending our money on weapons the Pentagon doesn't even want.

Connect: Spending money on outdated weapons that our military doesn't even want is a waste of taxpayer money.

Define: Wasting money on Cold War pork projects doesn't make us safer. It just takes resources away from what our troops need to combat 21st century threats.

Expose: But Republicans in Congress are ignoring their own spending limits and our generals' advice, forcing the Pentagon to spend money on weapons it doesn't want.

Use validators: Top military leaders like Gen. James Cartwright, the former commander of the U.S. nuclear forces, are warning us about the dangers of spending more on outdated nuclear programs.

Summarize: So Republicans want to spend money on weapons our generals don't want and leave less for what our troops need.

Values: Politicians should put our troops and our security ahead of Cold War pork projects.

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WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW

• This week, Republicans in the House are pushing a defense budget that violates the debt deal they forced into place last summer, to the tune of $8 billion.
• These politicians are trying to fund Cold War era weapons the Pentagon does not want and that have been dismissed as outdated and unnecessary by top military leaders -- like Gen. James Cartwright, the retired vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and a former commander of the country's nuclear forces.
• The U.S. defense budget is six times that of China's and equal to that of more than the next 17 highest spending countries combined.
• If the "trigger" spending reductions under the August debt deal go through starting in 2013, the Pentagon budget would return to 2007 levels -- a time when we were paying for two major wars.
• Military and defense spending played a significant role in increasing the national debt -- over the last decade, the defense budget nearly doubled.
• The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan contributed to this soaring increase in defense spending and to record deficits. Gen. Colin Powell, Former Joint Chiefs Chairman Admiral Michael Mullen, and even a number of conservative politicians say the Pentagon budget should be a part of fixing our deficit.
• The military raid that brought down bin Laden raid is just part of the President's successful efforts to reorient the fight against terrorism to focus specifically the key threat we face -- defeating Al Qaeda and weakening terrorists around the globe.

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