Debt Commission Co-Chair Says GOP Budget Lacks Focus On Defense Spending

By Rachel Christiansen

Rep. Paul Ryan’s (R-Wis.) controversial budget plan proposes serious reform to entitlement programs, but it doesn’t give enough attention to defense spending, according to Alan Simpson, co-chair of President Obama’s debt commission.  

The former Senator of Wyoming applauded Ryan for putting forth a plan that “takes a dagger to the meat on the bone,” but acknowledged that a lack of action on the defense budget “makes no sense.”

“What you have right now is a government that is stupid, because for every buck that we spend we borrow forty cents, and it’s not from your friendly ‘Uncle Henry’, it’s from foreign governments and the public,” Simpson told TRNS in an interview Monday. 

Simpson added that we can’t hurt our military that is fighting in our “two and a half wars,” but that a “moment of truth” will come before May 16th when Congress has to tackle the debt limit. 

When asked on his thoughts on the recent turmoil over “social agenda items,” such as potential funding cuts to Planned Parenthood and NPR, being included in the budget, Simpson replied that they are “vindictive things that have nothing to do with deficit reduction.”

Simpson also added that if Congress chooses to enact any more short-term budget plans, he thinks the American people will “march on Washington, because they’re tired of it.”