How the GOP Could Win by Cutting Defense

When they meet at the White House Tuesday, Some Democrats will ask for military spending cuts as part of any budget deal while some Republicans want the Pentagon budget (currently scheduled for a small increase) to go even higher.  Even if it means giving up a few favored weapons systems, the Republicans should let the Democrats “win” on defense spending and use this “defeat” to open up a front on entitlement reform.

Cuts in defense spending are sensible simply because the Pentagon budget is so big. At 4.3 percent of GDP, America’s $663 billion defense budget is larger than all of the rest of the world’s combined.  There’s obviously waste in this—how could there not be--and Republicans who want to take it off the table will have a very hard time explaining why Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid (to say nothing of smaller but even more sympathetic programs like Veterans’ healthcare and SNAP) should be up for serious cuts themselves. Thus, by allowing some defense cuts—but retaining a truly unequaled defense establishment in every respect—Republicans can move towards cutting the entitlement programs that are the budget’s true cost-drivers.

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