CONFIRMATION OF DONALD TRUMP’S BUDGET DIRECTOR WOULD BE “WELCOME NEWS” TO VETERANS
Looming high over America’s national security is our national debt, which will exceed $20 trillion this year. The good news is President Donald Trump is appointing leaders who will take this threat seriously, including Rep. Mick Mulvaney (R-SC) to lead the Office of Management and Budget. He should be confirmed without delay…
Rep. Mulvaney’s clear understanding of the threat our national debt poses is welcome news to all veterans. At his confirmation hearing before the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, Rep. Mulvaney stated, “Great nations throughout history have traditionally failed from within… because of their inability to manage finances.”
He is far from alone in recognizing this threat. New Defense Secretary James Mattis previously labeled the national debt our nation’s biggest security threat. In this, he is joined by his predecessors Chuck Hagel, Robert Gates, and Leon Panetta, as well as former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Mike Mullen and other former senior intelligence officials …
… Controlling the rising debt is a task for every government department and agency. Our military can lead in this regard. The armed forces and the warrior class that runs them have no trouble embodying discipline and reserve …
… The military is also infamous for allowing its new weapons systems to go way over budget. The Government Accountability Office has listed the DoD’s weapon acquisitions system as a “high-risk” government program since 1990.
The most infamous, high-profile example in recent years is the F-35 project. The fighter jet program is operating behind schedule and over budget, with a $400 billion price tag as of last year. Sen. John McCain, chairman of the Senate Armed Forces Committee, has called cost overruns and delays in the F-35 program a “scandal and a tragedy.”
Military officials and the president are looking to control these costs, but there are many other needlessly expensive projects, including the Navy’s Littoral Combat Ship, designed for coastal combat. The ships are now one-third less costly to produce than their original $655 million per ship price tag, thanks to a careful reevaluation of cost drivers …
… But although the military can do its part, it is up to Congress to keep the majority of debt-drivers under control…The unsustainable growth of entitlement programs, or federal budgets that never balance, are some of the biggest contributors to the debt.
Rep. Mulvaney’s confirmation would be an encouraging sign that America’s national debt is finally being taken seriously, welcome news to veterans across the country…
Mark Lucas is the executive director of Concerned Veterans for America, a non-partisan organization that advocates for policies that will preserve the freedom and prosperity we and our families so proudly fought and sacrificed to defend.
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