{"id":217944,"date":"2022-08-15T12:00:02","date_gmt":"2022-08-15T11:00:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/?p=217944"},"modified":"2022-08-12T05:41:36","modified_gmt":"2022-08-12T04:41:36","slug":"the-most-bloated-military-budget-in-u-s-history-a-staggering-850-billion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/2022\/08\/the-most-bloated-military-budget-in-u-s-history-a-staggering-850-billion\/","title":{"rendered":"The Most Bloated Military Budget in U.S. History: A Staggering $850 Billion"},"content":{"rendered":"

Specially Named to Honor an 87-Year-Old Disciple of Barry Goldwater and Ronald Reagan – 2023 NDAA Represents Swan Song in Senate of a Long-Time Stalwart of the Radical Right<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\"\"<\/a>

[Source: pinterest.com]<\/p><\/div>\n

11 Aug 2022 – <\/em>The ghosts of Barry Goldwater and Ronald Reagan must be looking down with pride on their devoted acolyte, Senator James Inhofe of Oklahoma, known as \u201cthe hawk\u2019s hawk.\u201d He recently succeeded in pushing through a $45 billion addition to the latest military budget that brings its total to a staggering $850 billion.<\/p>\n

\"\"
[Source: twitter.com<\/a>]<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Inhofe has been in the Senate for 28 years, 27 of which he spent on the Senate Armed Services Committee, where he was able to thank the weapons manufacturers who donated millions to his political campaigns by stuffing their pockets with billions of dollars in military weapons contracts.<\/p>\n

\"\"
[Source: twitter. com<\/a>]<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

But Inhofe is now retiring, and to honor him, and his success in pushing the size of America\u2019s defense budget into Guinness World Records territory, his colleagues on the Armed Services Committee unanimously voted to name the new military budget The<\/em> James M. Inhofe National Defense Authorization Act of Fiscal Year 2023.<\/em><\/p>\n

The NDAA includes $30 billion to develop new nuclear weapons\u00a0to destroy humankind and for the Pentagon to acquire more of Lockheed Martin\u2019s F-35s, Joint Strike Fighter jets designed to carry both conventional and nuclear weapons.<\/p>\n

\"\"
[Source: nationalpriorities.org<\/a>]<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The NDAA also includes\u00a0$6 billion\u2014a $1 billion increase from last year\u2014for the Pacific Deterrence Initiative (PDI) to threaten China\u00a0with\u00a0armed ground-based cruise, ballistic, and hypersonic missiles\u2014hastening the prospects of World War III.<\/p>\n

Inhofe\u2019s Baby<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Considered a successful mayor of Tulsa (1978-1984), who ran a bond campaign to finance the damming of the Arkansas River, Inhofe first entered state government in 1967 when he took up the seat in the Oklahoma legislature replacing Dewey Bartlett Sr., an oilman and ally of Richard Nixon.[1]<\/sup><\/p>\n

Popular among his constituents because of his conservative positions on \u201cGod, guns, and gays.<\/a>\u201d Inhofe said he was most inspired by Barry Goldwater and Ronald Reaga<\/a>n, heroes of the New Right, who sought to cut government social programs while ramping up military spending in the Cold War (both Goldwater and Reagan were superhawks on Vietnam).<\/p>\n

\"\"
Then Tulsa Mayor James Inhofe meeting with President Ronald Reagan at a White House meeting with republican Mayors in January 1982. [Source: <\/sup>commons.wikimedia.org<\/sup><\/a>]<\/sup><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Inhofe himself served in the U.S. Army in the 1950s before the Vietnam War broke out. In the last five years alone, he has received more than half a million dollars in campaign contributions from the defense, aerospace and oil and gas industries<\/a>, which profit from high military budgets.<\/p>\n

\"Inhofe
Inhofe with his wife Kay during his first U.S. Senate race in 1994. [Source: tulsaworld.com<\/a>]<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Oklahoma has six military bases, and the Department of Defense is the state\u2019s largest employer<\/a>.<\/p>\n

In 2018, Inhofe was found to have purchased tens of thousands of dollars in Raytheon stock<\/a> just a week after he lobbied the Trump administration to increase military spending to record levels.<\/p>\n

\n
\"Inhofe
James Inhofe shakes hands with American soldiers. [Source: twitter.com<\/a>]<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

Inhofe claims that $850 billion is needed in the NDAA to counter<\/a> the \u201cChinese Communist Party accelerating the already historic modernization of its military,\u201d and \u201cRussia continuing to destabilize security in Europe,\u201d along with \u201crecord-high inflation jeopardizing our buying power.\u201d<\/p>\n

According to Inhofe, \u201cCongress must do everything we can to give our military every advantage on the battlefield.\u201d<\/p>\n

It is not clear, however, what battlefield Inhofe is talking about\u2014except future ones the U.S. intends to establish by encircling China and Russia militarily and provoking them into unnecessary wars.<\/p>\n

Further Militarizing Foreign Policy<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Ilhan Omar (D-MN), one of 101 House members<\/a> to vote against the NDAA, said that<\/a> at a time Americans are \u201cstruggling with the soaring cost of basic items like food and housing, when Republicans are blocking investments in basic needs like health care, we should not be voting on a defense bill that doles out a record-shattering $800+ billion to the Pentagon.\u201d<\/p>\n

Omar added that \u201cthis bill will only further militarize foreign policy, lining the pockets of defense contractors while inevitably costing the lives of innocent people around the world. Despite an amendment I introduced, it\u00a0blocks humanitarian aid<\/a>\u00a0to the Afghan people, further militarizes the Middle East and Indo-Pacific, and continues weapons sales to some of the most heinous human rights abusers in the world.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Ilhan
Ilhan Omar [Source: politico.com<\/a>]<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Lowlights<\/strong><\/h2>\n
\n
\"\"
Jason Crow [Source: wikipedia.org<\/a>]<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

Chillingly, the NDAA includes a provision from Rep. Jason Crow (D-CO) that would establish a National Space Guard\u2014a further step in the militarization of Outer Space.<\/p>\n

$800 million<\/a> is budgeted for security assistance to Ukraine, including $100 million for training Ukrainian pilots<\/a> and ground crews so they become familiarized with American aircraft.<\/p>\n

\"\"
General Stephen Townsend giving speech in front of AFRICOM headquarters in Germany. He has more to be smiling about with the new NDAA. [Source: africa.cgtn.com<\/a>]<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Additional lowlights of the NDAA include:<\/p>\n