Given that one of the most critical constitutional requirements is that the country’s leaders “provide for the common defense,” it is ironic that the Congress and new administration are being pushed to raise tax revenue not to pay for $3.4 trillion in current non-defense spending, but to pay for the approximately 15 percent of the Federal budget now being spent on defense. Why not for accounting purposes automatically reserve each year the first $619-700 billion in revenue for defense over a five-year period? Defense could thus be treated as entitlements are, as mandatory vice discretionary spending, and each year we would simply debate what the changes should be over a certain baseline. Our allies will be reassured and our adversaries would realize we were serious about national security. Defense would also be saved the dramatic swings in defense allocations that often lead to waste and inefficiencies.
Correcting the Course of Future Defense Spending
