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Breaking News from America's Progressive Community... Latest
Releases
The press releases posted here have been provided to NewsCenter by the one of the many progressive organizations we have selected to participate. If you would like more information about this press release, you should contact the organization directly. |
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| JANUARY
19, 1999 6:05 PM FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACT: Council for a Livable World John Isaacs - 202.543.4100 x.131(o) 202.387.6474 (h) Luke Warren - 202.546.0795 x.127(o) 202.544.3629(h) |
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| Hell Bent for Pork: Clinton Expected to Overfeed the Bloated Military | ||||
| WASHINGTON
- January 19 - Tonight, President Clinton is expected to announce several new political
initiatives, as is expected for any President during the State of the Union
address. On foreign policy and national security issues, Clinton will more
than likely mention three significant topics: Ballistic Missile Defense,
Military Spending, and the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty.
The Administration previously announced adding about $110 billion to the military budget over the next six years. Given that the military budget is already at Cold War levels, it is high time to quit spending precious American tax dollars on expensive high-tech weapons designed to fight the now defunct Soviet Union. If Congress were to close more bases, end one of the three new tactical fighter programs, and stop building New Attack Submarines, the military budget could be reduced and still have plenty of money to deal with the readiness problem. How does Clinton expect to pay for this hike in military spending without breaking the balanced budget agreement or cutting an already bare bones domestic spending? How can we save Social Security, reduce the debt, and cut taxes if Congress and the Administration are hell bent on spending the currently chimerical surplus? Moreover, the President may endorse the deployment of a ballistic missile defense (BMD) system. He has already announced budgeting $7 billion over the next 6 years for the potential deployment of BMD. Will the pressures of BMD proponents in Congress be too much? Hopefully not. BMD is too expensive, does not work yet, and would destroy the ABM Treaty, thus ending any future bilateral reductions in Russian/U.S. nuclear arsenals. President Clinton is also expected to announce a major push for the ratification of the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty. Its a good treaty, which will constrain nuclear weapons proliferation by making it more difficult for countries to develop nuclear weapons; it will also increase the U.S.'s ability to monitor nuclear test explosions. Unfortunately, the Treaty faces opposition from key Republicans. For more information and commentary on these issues, please contact John Isaacs, President of the Council for a Livable World, or Luke Warren, media coordinator and analyst at the Council for a Livable World Education Fund. You can also visit our website at www.clw.org/ ### |
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