defense begins at home

Many lawmakers want to reduce defense spending in the abstract, but not when it means fewer jobs or contracts or installations back home. The Hill newspaper has a piece listing several of the cuts favored by the Pentagon that Congress is fighting.  The President won't even send his fiscal year 2015 budget to Congress for another month, but the preemptive attacks are already beginning.

Not content with a debate and fair fight over particular programs, some creative lawmakers are pushing legislation that would deny funds even to study particular cuts, or to make managerial shifts that might save money and thereby demonstrate the value of such cuts. It's not surprising that members of Congress are parochial -- that's built into the Constitution.  But it would be nice if their colleagues insisted on a careful review of Pentagon proposals, and not knee-jerk opposition.