Articles by Miriam Pemberton

Source: Foreign Policy in Focus

The Obama administration’s budget proposal for 2017 would jack up military spending higher than it’s been since World War II. The Republican leadership in Congress wants to jack it up higher than that.

Fortunately, these aren’t our only choices.

The Congressional Progressive Caucus has mapped out a saner alternative in what it’s calling the People’s Budget. The CPC’s budget proposal would, for one thing, end the Pentagon tactic of having a war budget — separate and on top of “regular” Pentagon spending — that’s become an all-purpose slush fund for the military’s wish list projects, many of which have nothing to do with the wars we are fighting. read more

Source: Foreign Policy in Focus

The U.S. military now recognizes climate change as a security “threat multiplier.” Since 2008 the Institute for Policy Studies has been measuring the extent to which federal spending is being reallocated to reflect that perception. Between FY 2008 and FY 2011 the federal climate change budget more than doubled, from $7.4 billion to $18.1 billion. As a result, the gap between federal spending on military as opposed to climate security was cut more than in half. In 2008 the U.S. budgeted $94 on tools of traditional military force for every dollar spent on climate. That ratio will narrow to $41 to $1 in the 2011 fiscal year. read more