Arturo Plascencia

Mr. Hehir
Period 2
12/10/12

The Federal Government Spending

Around 70% of the money the federal government is spending is
spent on three different programs. They spend it on mandatory spending,
discretionary spending and interest on debt. The total Federal Spending of
2015 was $3.8 trillion on all three programs combined (nationalpriorities).
One of the discretionary spending most paid for programs is the military.
$598.49 billion was spent on the military alone in the past year. That is more
than half of the money that takes up the spending of the Discretionary
spending (nationalpriorities). People are always trying to cut the spending
of the Federal Government. The military is one of the programs that is always
considered. The Government first needs to know how and where to makes
the cuts. Then they need to think about what are the positive and negative
effects of cutting from it. And they need to consider will the country still be
safe with a smaller and these befitted military. All these things need to be
considered when making cuts to the military.

The main question when it comes to budget cuts is how and where to
cut it. The Armys plan to cut 40,000 troops, as well as 17,000 civilian
employees. Plans to shrink the active duty force to 450,000 troops from
490,000 have been known since February 2014 when Chuck Hagel, then the
secretary of defense, made the proposal as part of his 2015 military budget
(TheNewYorkTimes). Many plans to cut the military have been proposed
and discussed throughout the years. One of the ways to cut down the
military is to reduce the number of troops in the force. According to The
American Conservation, $100 billion could be cut. Former U.S. Congressman
Ron Paul says that only about half the defense budget is for defense, the
other half is for militarism abroad. Some other cuts to the military is to have
less high ranked officers and generals. People also propose that we have less
pilots. With the new technology drones can replace the jobs of many pilots.
Another way people have proposed that the Federal Government do is
instead of each branch of military having their own medical system, we
combine them into one group for all branches. One of the main problems
with cutting the military is we are making less jobs for Americans and with all
the cuts we are making our country less safe.
When thinking about cuts to the military, the government needs to
take into account the good out comes and the bad out comes of the budget
cuts. It is used to pay the training, health care and salaries of civilian and
uniformed personnel; maintain arms, equipment and facilities; to fund
operations; and to develop and buy new equipment. It funds all of the

country military branches, such as the Army, Air Force, Navy, Coast Guard
and Marine Corps (connectusfund). People argue that if we cut down on the
military it will have a bad outcome. They say that the money the Federal
Government uses is being put to good use by funding all those programs and
troops and equipment. Also many troops fear that with budget cuts to the
military they will receive a smaller pay of be just laid of completely. But with
the cuts the Federal Government where it make, they could use the money
on many other helpful, useful, and underfunded programs. They could give
more of the money to our schools our more money to healthcare for more
people to have it. They could give more money to food and agriculture,
which is the least funded part of the discretionary spending program
(nationalpriorities). There are many other ways the Federal Government
can spend the money if they were to cut down on the military.
Many people fear that if we cut down the military, our country will be
less safe from any outside threats. Many people in congress are against
budget cuts to the military because they think all the money being used is
need and is used in resourceful ways. Some members of congress want to
further grow our military and want to spend more money on it. How much
should we have to spend to keep America safe? Is the trillion dollars a year
we spend way too much? Or way too little? Are our military contractors and
armed forces efficiently delivering all the security we are paying for? Or are
we overpaying for the security that we are getting (usnews). These are the
questions that we the people and our government should be asking. Are we

using the money in a smart way? Is all the money we are spending really
going to keeping the country safe or is it just being used on some
unnecessary military program.
The Federal Government spends billions of dollars on the military every
year. Whether to cut the budget or add more to it is just a matter of opinion.
There are many ways to cut the budget safely. Most of the money could go to
some other important government program. And if we do cut the budget is
our military going to be any less efficient of be able to protect us. President
Obama and Congress need to make sure the Army is well positioned to do its
job, but that does not mean maintaining bases and a level of troops that go
beyond what the country needs and can afford (TheNewYorkTimes). We can
still have a good and safe military without spending any more money than
we already are, the government need to make sure that the troops that we
do have are skilled and well equipped to defend our country. The spending of
the money is only up to the government to decide where it goes.

Work Cited
(n.d.). Retrieved December 11, 2015, from http://www.usnews.com/opinion/blogs/economicintelligence/2012/06/21/how-to-safely-cut-us-defense-spending
13 Key Pros and Cons of Military Spending. (2015, July 20). Retrieved December 11, 2015,
from http://connectusfund.org/13-key-pros-and-cons-of-military-spending
16 Ways to Cut Defense Spending. (n.d.). Retrieved December 11, 2015, from
http://www.theamericanconservative.com/articles/16-ways-to-cut-defense-spending-7/
A Plan to Cut Federal Government Spending. (n.d.). Retrieved December 11, 2015, from
http://www.downsizinggovernment.org/plan-to-cut-federal-spending

Federal Spending: Where Does the Money Go. (n.d.). Retrieved December 11, 2015, from
https://www.nationalpriorities.org/budget-basics/federal-budget-101/spending/
Military Cutbacks Make Sense. (2015, July 24). Retrieved December 11, 2015, from
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/07/25/opinion/military-cutbacks-make-sense.html?_r=0