Yes! Obama announces major Pentagon cuts

Following Tuesday's near-unanimous win among Iowa Democrats and yesterday's recess appointment of Richard Cordray, our President has outdone himself today, announcing nearly half a trillion dollars in cuts to the Pentagon's bloated budget.

The new military strategy includes $487 billion in cuts over the next decade. An additional $500 billion in cuts could be coming if Congress follows through on plans for deeper reductions. The announcement comes weeks after the U.S. officially ended the Iraq War and after a decade of increased defense spending in the aftermath of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the United States.

Obama said that the military will indeed be leaner, but the U.S. will maintain a budget that is roughly larger than the next 10 countries' military budgets combined.

"Some will no doubt say the spending reductions are too big; others will say they're too small," Obama said. "It will be easy to take issue with a particular change. But I would encourage all of us to remember what President Eisenhower once said — that 'each proposal must be weighed in the light of a broader consideration: the need to maintain balance in and among national programs.' "

The plan also features a large-scale shift away from the failed policies that defined Bush-era foreign policy.

Iraq and Afghanistan were large nation-building efforts requiring thousands of troops. The emphasis on the future will be to partner or advise foreign militaries in order to counter threats, Krepinevich said.

For all the conservative crowing about 'fiscal responsibility,' there seems to be little talk about the Department of Defense budget, which makes up 20% of our nation's budget. For Fiscal Year 2010, a majority of discretionary spending was on the Pentagon.

This announcement is sure to irritate those who claim that the only way to protect our country is to waste money at the Pentagon. And not a moment too soon. The President is putting deficit hawks on the defensive (pun intended!), helping to change the discussion on what should and shouldn't be cut.

Dwight Eisenhower - who himself knew a thing or two about the military - one famously said:

Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired, represents, in the final analysis, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, who are cold and are not clothed.

I think Ike would be proud of his successor today. Thank you, Mr. President, for having the courage to make this shift in policy!

In his first six months in office, President Obama:

• Signed executive orders to close the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, within a year, ban torture and end the CIA’s secret overseas prisons and define treatment of Detainees.
  
• Reversed restrictions on stem cell research.
  
• Signed the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act. Reducing discrimination based on gender, age, religion, or race.
  
• Signed an executive order reversing the ban that prohibits funding to international family planning groups that provide abortions. Gag rule revoked (Mexico City policy).
  
• Creates the White House Council on Women and Girls "to provide a coordinated federal response to the challenges confronted by women and girls and to ensure that all Cabinet and Cabinet-level agencies consider how their policies and programs impact women and families."
  
• Signed a Presidental Memorandum extending federal benefits to same-sex partners of federal workers and announced support for the Domestic Partners Benefits and Obligations Act of 2009.
  
• Reverses U.S. position on LGBT Issues at the UN: At the "Durban Review Conference," U.S. supports language condemning “all forms of discrimination and all other human rights violations based on sexual orientation.”
  
• Signed executive order requiring federal contractors to offer jobs to current workers when contracts change.
  
• Reversed a Bush order requiring federal contractors to post notice that workers can limit financial support of unions serving as their exclusive bargaining representatives.
  
• Signed executive order preventing federal contractors from being reimbursed for expenses meant to influence workers deciding whether to form a union and engage in collective bargaining.
  
• Created a foreclosure prevention fund for homeowners.
  
• Expanded eligibility for the refinancing portion of the Making Home Affordable plan to help Americans struggling with distressed mortgages refinance at lower interest rates, even if they owe up to 25 percent more than their homes are now worth.
  
• Established a credit card "bill of rights".
  
• Expanded loan programs for small businesses.
  
• Extended and index the 2007 Alternative Minimum Tax patch.
  
• Expanded eligibility for State Children's Health Insurance Fund (SCHIP).
  
• Expanded funding to train primary care providers and public health practitioners.
  
• Created a new White House task force on the problems of middle-class Americans, and installed Vice President Joe Biden as its chairman.
  
• Appoints Vice President Joe Biden to Oversee Stimulus Plan Payouts.
  
• Granted a reprieve to Liberian immigrants facing imminent expulsion.
  
• Directed military leaders to end war in Iraq.
  
• Allowing Caskets to be photographed when the return from Iraq with family approval.
  
• Released nine previously secret internal Justice Department memos and opinions defining the legal limits of government power in combating terrorism.
  
• On Arab TV Network, Obama Urges Dialogue.
  
• Gave a speech in Cairo engaging the Muslim and Arab world.
  
• Bars independent contractors from conducting interrogations of terror suspects.
  
• Granted Americans unrestricted rights to visit family and send money to Cuba.
  
• Ordered the release of nearly a quarter of a million pages of records from the Reagan White House that were kept from the public during a lengthy review by President George W. Bush.
  
• Restored funding for the Byrne Justice Assistance Grant (Byrne/JAG) program.
  
• Released presidential records.
  
• Required new hires to sign a form affirming their hiring was not due to political affiliation or contributions.
  
• Pushed for enactment of Matthew Shepard Act, which expands hate crime law to include sexual orientation and other factors.
  
• Invites gay families to the Easter Egg Roll as part of the Obama administration's outreach to diverse communities.
  
• Created a White House Office on Urban Policy.
  
• Increased funding for the NEA.
  
• Appointed an assistant to the president for science and technology policy.
  
• Funded a major expansion of AmeriCorps.
  
• Banned lobbyist gifts to executive employees.
  
• Investment in all types of alternative energy.
  
• Enacted tax credit for consumers for plug-in hybrid cars.
  
• Support for high-speed rail.
  
• Provided grants to encourage energy-efficient building codes.
  
• Extended unemployment insurance benefits and temporarily suspend taxes on these benefits.
  
• Created the White House Council on Automotive Communities and Workers to help auto industry workers transition to new manufacturing opportunities, including jobs in alternative energy.
  
• Stopped raids on medical marijuana dispensers.
  
• Nominated Sonia Sotomayor to the Supreme Court of the United States. If confirmed, Sotomayor would be the first Hispanic to ever serve on the Supreme Court.
  
• Appointed more than 60 openly LGBT persons to positions in the executive branch.
  
• Issues Presidential Proclamation for Pride, proclaiming June 2009 as Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Pride Month.
  
• Signed a mercury reduction pact with 140 other nations.
  
• Signed the Weapons System Acquisition Reform Act to curb wasteful spending by the Pentagon. Intended to price contracts and budgets lower; may potentially save billions of dollars in defense.
  
• Signed the Omnibus Public Lands Management Act of 2009, which serves to protect two million acres of land and creates a new system of land conservation for the Bureau of Land Management.
  
• Phase out government payments to crop producers making more than $500,000 a year and eliminates subsidies for cotton storage to help trim the U.S. budget deficit.
  
• Cut funding for a proposed U.S. nuclear storage facility at Yucca Mountain.
  
• Restored Endangered Species Act Provision requiring U.S. agencies consult with independent federal experts to determine if their actions might harm threatened and endangered species.
  
• Orders The Chesapeake Bay Protection and Restoration "to protect and restore the health, heritage, natural resources, and social and economic value of the Nation's largest estuarine ecosystem and the natural sustainability of its watershed."
  
• Signed the 2009 Omnibus Public Land Management Act designating two million additional acres of public wilderness areas the highest level of government protection from logging and other forms of commercial use and development.
  
• Signed the Christopher and Dana Reeve Paralysis Act which will expedite the search for cures and treatments for millions of Americans living with paralysis caused by spinal cord injury, stroke, MS, Parkinson's and many other diseases and disorders.
  
• Established The Joint Virtual Lifetime Electronic Record, a new system for updating medical records of servicemen and women both during and after their military careers.
  
• Established the White House Office of Health Reform
  
• Created new and stronger safety standards to safeguard the country's food supply.
  
• Got his daughters a new puppy!

(from an email)

Bits of Tid: April 19, 2009

• Blast from the past:
  A year later, I am so proud that we have a President who has brought that vision, courage, and foresight to Washington to bring about much needed change. Thank you, President Obama.
  
• Obama picked his administration's CPO and CTO - that's Chief Performance Officer and Chief Technology Officer. This is Obama's second attempt at appointing a CPO; the other candidate, Nancy Killefer, dropped out due to - you guessed it - tax issues.
• We never heard Conservative President George W. Bush do this.
• Yesterday I mentioned Obama's efforts to improve relations with Cuba. Now it looks like he's doing the same with Venezuela. (And there are plenty of pictures!)
• While we're getting spoiled by Mother Nature, the Denver area has seen three feet of snow this weekend! My aunt has to be getting sick of it!
• Speaking of which, I hope you're sick of the madness:
  
• Meghan McCain dropped an S-bomb over the future of the Republican Party.

Bits of Tid: January 8, 2009

"Behold, All Things Have Become New" Edition

• John Cherry is running for Governor! Other fine Dems may also enter the race, and so I am not willing to say at this point that I endorse Cherry. However, I very much like what Cherry has done for our state.
• Meet Nancy Killefer, the first CPO of the United States. (That's Chief Performance Officer. :-) )
• When you're done meeting her, I'd like you to meet Chief Justice Kelly and Justice Hathaway.
• So they're raising hay about Attorney General-designate Eric Holder. You know what? Leahy's right. He'll be confirmed easily. I mean, the new President's got more Senators of his party than Bush did in 2001, when Ashcroft was confirmed 58-42.
  
• Any Republicans who oppose helping auto workers but support this proposed porn industry bailout can expect to hear an earful from me.
• I'm using 43things.com to help me keep track of my New Year's Resolutions and other things I want to do during my life. Highly recommended!