|
Friday, October 13, 2006
The FY 2007 DoD Approps Bill, Deconstructed
In a brilliant analysis of the FY 2007 DoD appropriations bill, Winslow T. Wheeler, Director at the Straus Military Reform Project of the Center for Defense Information based in Washington, D.C., exposes the bill's budget gimmicks, misleading program labeling, and meaningless dollar figures.
The lead-in for Wheeler's article:
Congress has so complex-ified the defense budget and stuffed it with spending gimmicks, it is difficult to understand just how much is being spent on national defense and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. It has become such a jumble that some journalists seem to rely upon press releases from the Senate and House Appropriations Committees and the Senate and House Armed Services Committees to report on the budget. Doing so is a serious mistake; the committees' numbers are highly misleading, and sometimes have absolutely nothing to do with what is actually spent on defense.
Posted by Dana Chasin
|