House Approves $690 Billion Defense Bill
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House Approves $690 Billion Defense Bill
The House has passed a $690 billion defense bill that limits President Barack Obama's authority on reducing nuclear weapons and deciding what to do with terrorist suspects.
The vote was 322-96 on Thursday.
The broad defense blueprint would provide a 1.6 percent increase in military pay, fund an array of aircraft, ships and submarines, increase health care fees slightly for working-age military retirees and meet the Pentagon's request for $119 billion to fight wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Final passage came shortly after the House narrowly rejected a measure requiring an accelerated timetable and exit strategy for withdrawing U.S. forces from Afghanistan.
The bill must be reconciled with a Senate version. The Senate Armed Services Committee will begin crafting its bill the week of June 13.
http://www.npr.org/2011/05/26/136687716 ... fense-bill
The House has passed a $690 billion defense bill that limits President Barack Obama's authority on reducing nuclear weapons and deciding what to do with terrorist suspects.
The vote was 322-96 on Thursday.
The broad defense blueprint would provide a 1.6 percent increase in military pay, fund an array of aircraft, ships and submarines, increase health care fees slightly for working-age military retirees and meet the Pentagon's request for $119 billion to fight wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Final passage came shortly after the House narrowly rejected a measure requiring an accelerated timetable and exit strategy for withdrawing U.S. forces from Afghanistan.
The bill must be reconciled with a Senate version. The Senate Armed Services Committee will begin crafting its bill the week of June 13.
http://www.npr.org/2011/05/26/136687716 ... fense-bill
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and I will agree that there might be some waste in there but I believe defense money is too important to cut
back on, funny I was just reading a story in fox about misspending in other areas check it out.
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2011/05 ... n-studies/
Godfather.
it's used for photography.....real cool pictures.
Godfather.
Expanding those wars yet again? Change indeed. We need it.
america fuck yeah.
building better ways of killing people is better than actually taking care of people.
yeah $119 billion! woohoo.. its just a drop in the bucket considering what we've already wasted over there! it doesnt say in how much time, so I assume thats 119b in a week or so.. great :roll:
8 U.S. troops killed in blast in southern Afghanistan
Reporting from Kandahar, Afghanistan—
An explosion in southern Afghanistan on Thursday killed eight U.S. troops, officials said, an unusually large toll for a single incident.
Earlier in the day, NATO's International Security Assistance Force, or ISAF, announced the death of a service member in a helicopter crash in Afghanistan's east. The cause of the crash was under investigation, the coalition said.
A Pentagon official confirmed that the eight killed in the south were U.S. soldiers. Most of the troops in the south and the east are Americans. U.S. troops make up about two-thirds of the overall NATO force.
The deaths come as Western commanders are seeking to consolidate military gains, particularly in the south, before a U.S. troop drawdown set to begin next month. The scale of the pullback has not been set, and senior officials have said it will depend on battlefield conditions.
The Taliban and other insurgent groups have been weakened over the last year by a relentless campaign of targeted strikes, almost all of them led by U.S. special operations forces and aimed at wiping out the insurgency's mid-level field command.
But powerful insurgent-planted bombs, or improvised explosive devices, remain a deadly threat to Western troops. Such bombs kill and maim many Afghan civilians as well.
Over the last two months, the Taliban and groups such as the Pakistan-based Haqqani network also have carried out a series of attacks against Afghan government and military installations, which tend to be "softer" targets than Western bases. Recent high-profile targets have included the governor's compound in the southern city of Kandahar and a military hospital in the capital, Kabul.
<!-- e --><a href="mailto:laura.king@latimes.com">laura.king@latimes.com</a><!-- e -->
This afternoon, the House of Representatives has been debating — and voting on — a set of amendments to the National Defense Authorization Act of Fiscal Year 2012 (NDAA). One particularly important bipartisan amendment offered by Reps. Barbara Lee (D-CA) and Justin Amash (R-MI) would have struck Section 1034 from the language of the bill.
What is Section 1034? It’s a section that was inserted by Rep. Buck McKeon (R-CA) and others that would update the Authorization for the Use of Military Force (AUMF) that was passed after the 9/11 attacks. It would vastly expand the power of the President to engage in war. As the ACLU explains, the provision would go much further than the AUMF, “allowing war wherever there are terrorism suspects in any country around the world without an expiration date, geographical boundaries or connection to the 9/11 attacks or any other specific harm or threat to the United States. There have been no hearings on the provision, nor has its necessity been explained by Rep. McKeon or anyone else in Congress.” The section also strikes a blow against civil liberties by expanding detainment powers.
This provision is so expansive that even the Obama administration — the very executive branch whose power would be greatly enhanced — has issued a veto threat should it survive Congress. This afternoon, the Lee-Amash amendment was defeated. As The Nation’s George Zornick notes, the amendment was defeated along a 234-187 vote, with 20 Democrats voting against and 21 Republicans voting for it:
On a near-party line vote of 234-187, the House has voted down an amendment by Rep. Justin Amash (R-MI) and Rep. Barbara Lee (D-CA) that would have stripped the so-called “endless war” provision from the defense authorization bill. [...] Twenty-one Republicans broke with their party to support the Amash-Lee amendment; unfortunately, 20 Democrats also crossed over and opposed it.
Yet there was a silver lining to today’s NDAA votes. Rep. Jim McGovern (D-MA) introduced an amendment to require the President to submit a timetable for withdrawal from Afghanistan. While it failed, it only lost by 11 votes and netted the votes of even 26 Republicans. Recall, last year, when Sen. Russ Feingold (D-WI) introduced legislation to require an exit from Afghanistan, it failed 18-80, with most Democrats voting against it.
http://thinkprogress.org/2011/05/26/unl ... qus_thread
"some waste"? Please. You go on and on about welfare fraud being wasteful and then brush off waste in the military because is too important to cut. Is it just that we have different values or are you making a fear based decision because you think the military keeps our country safe?
The size of the military budget is pathetic and shameful to say the least.
:? I don't think you and some of the others on here get it,
Godfather.
sadly ... i don't think it's others that don't get it ...
the US spends the most on military than the rest of the world combined this despite having friendly neighbours pretty much all around ... you're engaged in two primary wars - one of which was based solely on LIES ... if america were not fighting imperialistic wars in the interests of multi-nationals - it honestly wouldn't need the expenditure on "defense" ... there have been more foreign terrorist attacks in nearly every developed country outside of canada in the last two decades ... people have been sold the fear pill and their eating it up like candy ...
obesity and heart disease will kill more american non-combatants this year than any threat ... the priorities have been messed up for a long time ... and people wonder why a country so "rich" as the US operates with so much debt ... :shock:
all this spending and the rest of the world shakes their head's at our debt but still come running with their hand's out and the US keeps on giving and giving...Billions and billions to it's friendly neighbors, it seems to me that our country pays too much for friendship, it's ez for us to assume anything but if you look back at our history and the history of the countrys around the US we have it pretty good with minimal attacks on our soil and really non sense WWII and that in my opinion is because the US has the best technology and the strongest military and we have weapons at home too
_no military no peace....know military know peace !
Godfather.
:(
i'm sorry ... it's responses like this that truly make me sad ... i know you are not a bad person but we see the world in two completely opposite lights ...
I would like to see the world how you see it ,I would like it to be better but I have to see it as really is and that is also sad, if the US is not prepared and ready we set our selfs up for another Pearl Harbor or even another 9/11 , I wish there was no need for a military anywhere in the world but this is what we have to deal with and it stinks, nobody is willing to lay down arms.
Godfather.
your beliefs are rooted in fear and not reality ... you ask the wrong questions while seeking the wrong answers ... there are many countries that live without the constant threat of violence ... these countries also contribute aid around the world ... and these countries do not feel the need to spend excessively on weapons of mass destruction ...
maybe because those other countrys are our friends and everybody knows what we do for our friends..who knows.
how much of the world does live with the constant threat of violance and how many of them depond on the US for aid and/or protection,it's just hard for me to thing's thru rose colored glasses.
how long have there been war's or battels over land religen or just pure hate...I would say as far back when Cain killed his brother Able and even before,pre historic man killed each other over food and a place to sleep..
it's human agression and need for dominance at any price, I wish it were different.
Godfather.
Its got to be tough to have an impartial point of view on this when your paycheck depends on it. You do work for boeing, right?
"With our thoughts we make the world"
but the bottom line for me is military and education,these two thing's are a huge factor in the groth and stability of our country...in my humble opinion.
Godfather.
everyday we all make disissions based on some sort of fear, it keeps us alive if we don't let it overwelm our daley lives and use it as the tool it's ment to be...did I just post that ?....I ain't sceeered.
Godfather.
Let's go with your argument that the military keeps us safe. Wouldn't it be reasonable to cut the budget down to 500 billion a year--where it was only 6 years ago. Were we in danger in 2005 of being invaded? Are we safer in 2011 because we blow over 700 billion? The pentagon's black budget is 50 billion. That's all unaccounted for. Do you think the waste in that is only "some"?
I know the funding stream is different, but how many teachers have been laid off in the last couple years? It's logically and morally unjustifiable to give the military an increase in their budget.
I think that state and local mis-spending has as more to do with that than we realize and the other funding (federal)that is spent on much less important thing's that could be used to improve our schools and quality of our edcuators (training, new courses for teachers to better unerstand and help students).
Godfather.
That's nice to know. I don't know if politics motivated that decision or not but in the end it the right decision to make as an American.
"With our thoughts we make the world"
GOP Cuts Disaster Preparedness Funds By $1.5 Billion
In response to the deadliest spring of climate disasters in decades, House Republicans are slashing billions from disaster preparedness programs, including support for firefighters. On Tuesday, the House Appropriations Committee cut the successful Department of Energy clean car manufacturing loan program by $1.5 billion to add $1 billion to disaster relief. But they also slashed other parts of the Federal Emergency Management Agency and Homeland Security budget, including cuts of $1.5 billion from President Obama’s request for next year in firefighter assistance grants and state and local grants administered by FEMA.
During the markup, Reps. David Price (D-NC) and Steve LaTourette (R-IL) attempted to restore $460 million in funding for firefighter grants and $1.1 billion in state and local grants, but their amendment was defeated 20 to 27 by the Republican majority. Price blasted the decision to “decimate funding” for disaster preparedness:
One of the worst decisions was to decimate funding for almost every grant program for state and local preparedness. Providing a total of $1 billion for all State and Local Grants, or 65 percent below the request, and providing $350 million for Firefighter Assistance Grants, almost 50 percent below an already reduced request, breaks faith with the states and localities that depend on us as partners to secure our communities. These cuts will be doubly disruptive as many of our states and municipalities are being forced to slash their own budgets.
“In today’s environment,” said Appropriations Committee Chairman Hal Rogers (R-KY), according to CQ, “we can’t be subsidizing local governments to the extent we have.” Parts of his district were declared a federal disaster area earlier this month because of catastrophic flooding.
http://thinkprogress.org/2011/05/27/gop ... eparednes/
A better Education and more understanding, then we will truly know peace...
Yeah, plus, if you give money to education, they are just as likely to blow it and mis-use it as anybody else. Every week on the local news I see these stories of school board members taking private jets to some conference where they rack up hundreds of thousands in questionable charges. That might not be everywhere, but around here there is a bunch of corruption in the education system.
There is a high school around here that is in the process of finishing construction on a $60 million football stadium (no not a pro team or college, high school), the same school is laying off teachers because they can't afford to pay them.
There is a ton of other crap going on with our state's education funds that goes all the way up to the governor. So I don't think "give it to education" would be money any better spent. Unless the government steps in to make sure the money is used for the intended purpose, but if your governor is anything like ours he/she will scream and cry about Washington trying to micro-manage the state, and acting like Big Brother.
that would be nice.
Godfather.
We set ourselves up for Pearl Harbor and 9-11 because of our foreign policy, not because we don't spend enough on our military.
As long as we continue to have a military presence all over the world, we will continue to be a target. How can anyone justify having military bases in 150+ countries?
wow I didn't know we have a 150 military bases around the world but I would call it covering our bases.
Godfather.
and by the way,would you rather have it the other way around ? because that's how it would be if we were not
on top with military tech and the willingness to do what we have to protect our country...and spreading a little cash around don't hurt either
Godfather.