Will the DOD Spending Cuts Stick?

Thursday, August 12, 2010 1:29 PM by Renae Bartusch

 

Defense Secretary Gates announced this week that he would take on the ballooning costs at the DOD by freezing salaries, prioritizing spending and closing unused military bases. This is part of a larger effort Gates has been promoting to streamline the department, already cutting about 20 programs from the fiscal year’s budget, saving taxpayers over $300 billion. Gates says “We must be mindful of the difficult economic and fiscal situation facing our nation.” He added that the department can’t expect Congress to approve budget increases unless they are doing a good job. 

Gates is also pressing lawmakers to reject unnecessary spending initiatives that are under consideration during the appropriations process.  The Center for Fiscal Accountability and Americans for Tax Reform sent a letter to the House in late July urging members to reject funding for the F136 Alternative Engine Program in the Department of Defense Appropriations Bill.

Taxpayers deserve better and should not have to foot the bill for wasteful spending. We hope the streamlining of the DOD budget sticks. However, part of Gates's plan should give weary taxpayers cause for concern: he intends to cut 10 percent of privately-held contracts as a means of "cutting costs." This, could ultimately lead to insourcing, or the hiring of public employees to do what were once privately-held jobs for the government. As we have detailed before, the exploding public payroll is one of the leading costs of government, and will do little to stem the increasing cost of the DOD. Gates maintains insourcing is not the default answer to the contract rescissions and we hope this is true: it wouldn't be the first time we've seen well-intentioned spending cuts go up in spending smoke.

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