Wednesday, August 3, 2011

Pentagon lands extra $50 billion out of debt deal

Raw Story

Out of a bill that was supposed to cut government spending and waste wherever it is found, lawmakers managed to cobble together an additional $50 billion for the U.S. Defense Department's budget, using an accounting trick to disguise the move.

Instead of cutting $400 billion from the Pentagon's budget over the next 12 years like President Barack Obama proposed in April, Republicans put their own cuts at $350 billion over the next 13 years, leaving the nation's defense apparatus an extra $50 billion it hadn't planned on.

Disguised as a cut, the Pentagon's budget boost would have gone unnoticed in the press were it not for McClatchy reporter Nancy A. Youssef...[Full Article]