On the recordJanuary 24, 2011
As we begin the debate on the reduction of non-defense and security spending, a visit to recent history reveals a telling connection between our soaring debt and the two wars our country is waging. The Center for Arms Control and Non-Proliferation estimates that the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have cost the average American family of four almost $13,000 last year. We know from our constituents when we return to our districts that the average American family of four cannot afford that. They cannot afford to pay for wars that undermine our national and moral security. Many families can barely afford to stay in their homes. Nobel Prize winning economist and author of The Three Trillion Dollar War, Joseph Stiglitz, says that there is 'no question that the Iraq war added substantially to the federal debt. This was the first time in American history that the government cut taxes as it went to war. The result: a war completely funded by borrowing. The global financial crisis, he says, was due at least in part to the war. If this sounds familiar, it is because we are pursuing the same policies today. The ramifications of our spending on the Iraq War-- soaring oil prices, federal debt and a global economic crisis--were during a time when the resources dedicated to Iraq were much greater than those being dedicated to Afghanistan.
