While it MAY be legitimate to argue that there is some money being spent by the military that is wasteful or perhaps not well managed. It is profoundly ironic that anyone would suggest that ANY new spending initiative should be "funded" by cutting defense spending.

Of course this is because, in reality, National Defense is just about the only thing that the Federal Government should be involved with in a big way. The lions share of the Federal Budget SHOULD be defense, not "safety nets".

Unless this sinks in, the U.S.A. fiscal problems will not diminish. Some government safety nets are very appropriate, but many of our safety nets have become multi-generational wealth redistribution programs (entitlements). Nobody really seems to understand that this means major, serious re-evaluation is needed. Welfare reform is NOT synonymous with elimination of legitimate safety nets. It means eliminating waste, fraud and abuse. But most important, it means eliminating the welfare mentality. Making it so that welfare is an intermediate step to personal responsibility and the good old fashioned work ethic. It is also very confusing that we need special legislation to look into eliminating waste, fraud and abuse in these bloated programs.