News & Articles

Beginning Nov. 1st, food stamp cutbacks mean $36 per month less for a family of four.
So-called Conservatives like Wisconsin Republican Paul Ryan and Liberals like Democratic Prez. Bill Clinton point to the failure of poverty programs to end poverty and then slash their budgets or abolish them altogether. Clinton’s actions did away with Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) in a fell swoop dubbed “welfare reform.”
Meanwhile, the latest miss of “missile defense” occurred July 5 over the Pacific. Chronic failure of the Pentagon’s anti-missile rockets never results in cancellation, but is called reason enough for more funding — even after the unbroken five-year record of test failures.  In spite of the record of failure, the rocket business is a welfare program that is never declared fraudulent or wasteful except by scientists, think tanks and military watchdogs.
Today a lot of Republicans claim the food stamp program is rife with fraud. They say “Ineligible people get food stamps!” So the House adopted a farm bill in July that for the first time since 1973 eliminates food stamps — officially the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (or SNAP). A Senate bill approved in May cut about $4.5 billion from the program, mainly by altering eligibility rules.
The percentage of our population that uses food stamps went up from 8.7 in 2007 to 15.2 in 2012. This near doubling is partly the result of the Great Recession, high unemployment, and the fact that Republicans have made deep cuts in unemployment benefits.
“… some lawmakers want to cut off funding for the hungriest children…” says Scott Faber of the Environmental Working Group. Republican Stephen Fincher of Tennessee cites the New Testament to justify the cuts, saying “The one who is unwilling to work shall not eat.” The House action will eliminate about 5.1 million people from the food program, according to a report by the Health Impact Project. Almost half a million people who get food stamps but still do not get enough to eat (the average SNAP amount is $134 a month) would lose their eligibility for the stamps. The HIP study found that the food stamps cuts would not just affect the ability of low-income people to feed themselves, but would also increase poverty.

Failed and redundant weapons getting billions

Independent analysts like MIT Prof. Ted Postol say missile defense is like hitting a bullet with a bullet, can’t work — interceptor missiles can never distinguish incoming weapons from decoys — and should be cancelled. Postol charged in 2000 that the program’s officers were “most likely attempting to illegally use the security and classification system to hide waste, fraud and abuse.” British PM Margaret Thatcher told Ronald Reagan 30 years ago, “I know it won’t work.”
Still, spending for “ballistic missile defense” over 3 decades totals about $200 billion — $130 billion by 2000, according to the Center for Strategic & Budget Assessments — and $10 billion/yr since then. Last March, President Obama announced another $1 billion in funding to add 14 new “interceptor” missile pads to the 26 already deployed in Fort Greely, Alaska.

Let them eat bombs

Even more demoralizing are the weapons programs unwanted by Pentagon that get funded again and again. Military brass have said that additional upgrades to the M1 Abrams tank (the Pentagon says its 6,000 M1 upgrades are enough) and the new Joint-Strike fighter jet bomber (or F-35) are unnecessary. Baltimore Sun blogger Terry Munson reported Aug. 17 that zeroing the Abrams program would save $3.5 billion earmarked by Congress.

Other systems that Pentagon chiefs have called unneeded and unaffordable include the Global Hawk drone program, the C-27J Spartan cargo aircraft, some Air National Guard funding, and a proposed East Coast missile defense site.
The Dayton Daily News reported last year that the Pentagon has proposed cost cutting that would save $487 billion over 10 years. It suggests terminating: 1) the Global Hawk drone, whose purpose is served by the U2, saving $2.5 billion by 2017; 2) the C-27J aircraft, saving $400 million by 2017; 3) cutting 5,000 jobs from the Air National Guard and slashing $300 million from its budge; and 4) cancelling plans for an East Coast missile defense battery that Gen. Martin Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, has called unnecessary, saving 3.6 billion by 2017.

The same corporate Congressional representatives who call for “smaller government,” have insured that these military boondoggles stay big. As Munson concluded, “If we used some of that money to feed hungry children and educate those who need it most — activities actually in the national interest — Congressional reps might be compelled to find support among real voters and not just corporations seeking government handouts.”

- John LaForge works for Nukewatch, a nuclear watchdog and environmental justice group.