On the recordMarch 17, 2011
Secretary Gates recently stated that we could be in Afghanistan past the 2014 deadline for complete troop withdrawal. Meanwhile, more than 60 percent of Americans oppose this war, with more than 70 percent of people believing that we should withdraw a substantial number of U.S. troops from Afghanistan this summer. This is the longest war in U.S. history and all we have to show for it is a higher deficit and more debt. We already spend the most of any country in the world on defense. The next closest defense-spending country is China--and we spend seven times what they do. Defense spending currently constitutes about 60 percent of our discretionary spending. And it has increased 86 percent since 1998, becoming more entrenched than any entitlement program. As we're talking about cutting important programs that working families depend on, we should not continue to throw money down an endless hole in Afghanistan. I recently conducted a survey in my district inquiring about constituents' priorities and discovered that getting out of Afghanistan was second only to job creation. They also agree that one of the best ways to reduce the deficit is through extensive defense spending cuts. Republicans keep expressing the absolute necessity in cutting $100 billion from the budget over the next five years. Pulling out of Afghanistan would, all by itself, save us over $100 billion in the upcoming budget.…
