As everyone knows, during the 1990s, George HW Bush and William Jefferson Clinton severely reduced military spending (by half) and closed or cut dozens of necessary equipment programs, thus rendering the US military impotent.
These defense cuts were so severe that in 2000, when testifying before the Senate Armed Services Committee, the then-Chairman of the JCS, General Henry Shelton, said that the defense cuts of the 1990s “mortgaged the future of the military”. He was accompanied by the service chiefs, who unanimously denounced the defense cuts of the 1990s and said they need additional dozens of billions of dollars per year to rebuild their services.
The defense cuts of the 1990s were so deep that the military’s relations with Clinton (who admitted that he loathes the military) were frosty, to say it mildly. In 1997, the chief of staff of the USAF, General Ronald Fogleman, resigned because of Clinton’s defense cuts.
Both parties are responsible for the 1990s defense cuts. A Republican President (Bush) and a bipartisan Congressional majority started them. A Democratic President continued them, cutting defense spending even lower than Bush did, permitted and abetted by a Republican-dominated Congress and the Democratic minority.
But few people yet know that Democrats and liberal Republicans (e.g. Mark Hatfield, Jim Jeffords and Arlen Specter) tried to cut aggregate defense spending (and crucial equipment programs) even further and tried to reinvest it in socialist programs.
For example, Democrats and liberal Republicans tried to:
1) reduce aggregate defense spending (and procurement spending) by $1 bn[1];
2) reduce aggregate defense spending (and procurement spending) by $2bn[2];
3) reduce aggregate defense spending to $257 bn in 1995 dollars[3];
4) reduce funding for TOW-2B missiles, Hellfire missiles and CBU-87 bombs [4];
5) reduce military spending, freeze defense spending for 7 years, and spend the pseudo-savings on the unconstitutional Education Department [5];
6) reduce defense spending by $10 bn [6];
7) deny the DOD the funding for a 3rd Seawolf class submarine (when there was no alternative to the Seawolf class) [7];
8) deny the DOD $80 mn for the Space-Based Laser program [8];
9) deny the DOD $20 mn for the anti-Satellite weapon progam [9]
10) reduce the funding for the Trident-II missile program (necessary to replace Trident-I SLBMs and maintain the American nuclear deterrent) [10];
11) deny the DOD $125 mn for Kiowa helicopters [11];
12) reduce funding for National Missile Defense [12];
13) postpone the procurement of the LHD-7 warship [13];
14) reduce the proposed FY1996 defense budget by $3.2 bn [14];
15) abolish “defense f-walls” (i.e. reduce defense spending) [15];
Most Democratic Senators (31 of the then 45 Dem Senators) also voted against the entire FY1996 defense budget. Only 13 voted for it, and one of them (Daniel Akaka) did not vote. [16]
As this data shows, during the 1990s, during the era of the most disastrous defense cuts since the 1940s, the Democrats tried, and voted, to weaken the US military even further, even though aggregate defense spending and spending on equipment were already too low. For the Dems, any amount of military spending is unnecessary and any weapon program is necessary. Like children, they believe that humanity doesn’t need weapons and that the countries of the world can end all wars and become friends.
Many liberal Republicans voted together with these Democratic traitors. If it wasn’t for the Republican majority, those proposals would’ve become laws, and the US military would’ve been weakened even further. The Republicans also proposed an amendment to the FY1996 defense budget to “restore adequate defense budget levels”, but the Democrats and liberal Republicans killed it by a 40 YES: 60 NO vote. (To his credit, McCain voted “yes”.) [17]
Please don’t vote for any Democrat. The Democrats are weak on defense and shouldn’t be trusted with the military, the Congress and the White H
