House Dem Urges Supercommittee To Look At Nukes

Rep. Edward Markey (D-Mass.) called on the Super Committee  at a news conference on Tuesday to make extensive cuts from the U.S. nuclear weapons budget over the next decade.

“The Soviets are long gone yet the stock piles remain,” Markey said, pointing out that there are currently 5,000 nuclear weapons in the U.S. stockpile that cost American tax payers $50 billion every year. 

“That makes no sense,” Markey declared. 

When asked by TRNS about the very real threat of Iran developing nuclear weapons, he passed the question along to General Robert Gard Jr., chairman of the Center for Arms Control and Non-Proliferation.

“We are not going to stop Iran from enriching Uranium by maintaing 5000 nuclear weapons in your stockpile,” Gard explained. “Getting down to 1000 nuclear weapons to deploy ought to be a sufficient warning to them that they probably ought not to imploy the weapons should they develop it.”

“We cannot make ourself any safer with more nuclear weapons,” Markey added. “America needs another nuclear weapon as much as Lady Gaga needs another outfit.” 

Markey advocated that the “excess” money used for nuclear weapons would be better utilized in funding for cancer and heart disease research institutions, healthcare for senior citizens and child nutrition programs.  

65 members of the House of Representatives have joined with Markey in this effort to cut $20 billion annually from the nuclear weapons program so that $200 billion could be used for funding family programs. 

“Simply put,” Markey concluded, “we must freeze the nukes and fund the future.”

Click here to see photos from today’s news conference 

Hoyer Defends Occupy Wall Street From GOP Critic

By Andrea Salazar

House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) Tuesday countered House Majority Leader Eric Cantor’s assertion that demonstrators who have set up camp in New York’s financial district represent a “mob.”

Speaking to reporters, Hoyer compared today’s protests with the Tea Party’s origins.

“I don’t know whether Mr. Cantor watched any of the town meetings that we had in August of ‘09,” Hoyer said. “They were much more confrontational in many respects than these demonstrations are. This is a democracy and one of the good aspects of democracy is people get the opportunity to express their concerns and hope that action will be taken to address those grievances.”

The Minority Whip also said that he hopes the Senate has the 51 votes needed to pass the President’s jobs bill, adding that too often good legislation fails to move forward since it can’t garner the 60 voted needed to override a filibuster.

“One of the problems that we have in this country is that a minority controls the United States Senate and that the majority of the representatives of the United States Senate are precluded, too often, from considering the merits of proposals which have a majority support but not 60 votes support,” he said. “I think that’s unfortunate.”

As for the super committee’s looming deadline for a proposal cutting at least $1.2 trillion in spending, Hoyer said it has a “unique authority” to act not for political gains, but on the “absolute necessity to come to grips with the fiscal challenge that confronts us.”

He also said he expects trade agreements with Panama, South Korea and Colombia to pass through the House with bipartisan support.

Pelosi: U.S. In Abusive Relationship With China

By Andrea Salazar

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) Thursday urged Congress to tackle the China currency manipulation bill before dealing with trade agreements.

“I can say flat out, with all the respect that I have for the people of China, with all the importance I place in our relationship and the fun I had digging to China when I was a child on the beach…we are in an abusive relationship with China when it comes to trade,” Pelosi said.

Speaking to reporters at her weekly briefing, Pelosi said Congress should pass the Currency Exchange Rate Oversight bill “not to be protectionist but to be self reliant.”

The minority leader also commented on the supercommittee, asking them to “have as its centerpiece an initiative for growth, for innovation, for entrepreneurship” because “creating jobs through the private sector, through the small business is the way to better the economy.”

As a representative from California, she also spoke about Steve Jobs’ death calling him a “visionary genius” who was able to connect with different generations.

Panel Argues For "Super Committee" Cuts To Be Private Until Finalized

In a paneled discussion hosted by the Brookings Institute on Friday, three fiscal experts discussed the deficit’s impact on American national security and foreign policy.

Panelists included ,  and e at Brookings. Michael O’Hanlon, director of research for Foreign Policy and the 21st Century Defense Initiative, moderated the discussion. 

“We have a new opportunity now to solve the real problem and this deal may be the first step towards a positive resolution,” Alice Rivlin, senior fellow of economics studies at the Brookings Institution, said about the new deficit-reduction bill. 

The deficit-reduction deal, signed by President Obama on August 3, requires between $400 million and $1.5 billion of cuts from the national security budget, most of which is projected to come from defense. 

According to Rivlin, there are three critical moves to reduce deficit spending; reduce the growth of entitlement spending, reform tax codes to ensure increased tax revenue and cap discretionary spending.

Rivlin explained that the fastest growing major category in the defense budget is healthcare and major cuts need to be made. 

“The TRICARE For Life Program is an extremely generous and costly healthcare program that should be monitored,” Rivlin suggested.

TRICARE For Life is a Medicare supplement entitlement for medicare-eligible military employees and their dependents that have little co-insurance or deductible.

Former National Security Adviser Stephen Hadley echoed Rivlin’s sentiments and said that it is not fair to the active military force that the retirees have as good of a deal as it does.

“We let people retire after 20 years when they are fairly young and they can get other jobs but they still receive military retirement. Let us lengthen the period of service… so we pay them but we also get something for it in terms of our contribution to the military. There is an interaction and a set of reforms that can both make the military better and more effective and less costly,” Hadley said.

But, according to Senior Fellow Peter Singer, director of the 21st Century Defense Initiative, it is not as much about what to cut as it is about how to cut.

“We need to focus on the how question. What are the principles by which we might go about it smartly? Identify where real savings are versus false savings,” Singer said. 

“We have to be willing to question 20th century assumptions about 21st century national security,” Singer continued. “We have personnel benefit system that is designed for the generation of mad men that is now the generation of google. It’s expensive and doesn’t fit their needs.” 

Singer also suggested cutting areas in Pentagon spending, such as the National Missile Defense program. 

“We have spent more on that project than we spent on the entire Apollo space project that put a man on the moon,” Singer revealed. 

Over the past 27 years, the U.S. government has spent an estimated $150 billion on the National Missile Defense program and the success rate is a mere 8 out of 15, according to Singer. The Apollo mission, which successfully put man on the moon, cost an approximate $100 billion. 

All three panelists agreed, however, that whatever the “super committee” decides to cut should be kept quiet until it is finalized. They suggested some form of a non-disclosure agreement so ideas will not be immediately shut down as they are circulated in the press and people won’t hear about various cuts without understanding the context they are made in or the strategic trade-offs.