[Congressional Record Volume 157, Number 86 (Wednesday, June 15, 2011)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E1105-E1106]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                 ``CAN WE AFFORD THE MILITARY BUDGET?''

                                 ______
                                 

                           HON. BARNEY FRANK

                            of massachusetts

                    in the house of representatives

                        Wednesday, June 15, 2011

  Mr. FRANK of Massachusetts. Mr. Speaker, a leading conservative 
policy analyst, Bruce Bartlett, on June 14th published a compelling 
analysis of the great disparity that exists in military spending in the 
world as a percentage of gross domestic product. Building on the speech 
Secretary of Defense Gates gave last week, which Mr. Bartlett correctly 
describes as a speech ``in which he berated our allies in the North 
Atlantic Treaty Organization for not carrying their weight in terms of 
providing resources for the common defense,'' Mr. Bartlett offers a 
very important chart. As he notes, it shows ``that in 2010, the United 
States spent 5.4 percent of its gross domestic product on its 
military--twice as much as spent by Britain and three to four times as 
much as most of our NATO allies . . .'' Mr. Bartlett notes that simply 
talking about percentages understates the disparity between our 
military spending and that of the rest of the world--``because the 
United States has the world's largest economy, its share of world 
military spending is outsized, accounting for 43 percent of all the 
military spending on Earth--six times as much as China . . .''
  Mr. Bartlett correctly closes by noting that ``With polls showing 
declining support for the war in Afghanistan and increasing talk in 
Congress, even among Republicans, about cutting the military budget,'' 
it is time for us to rethink our worldwide military commitments, and 
find ways in which we can reduce military spending so that we fully 
protect the legitimate interests of the United States, but end a 
situation in which military spending makes impossible demands on any 
effort to reduce the deficit.

                   Can We Afford the Military Budget?

                          (By Bruce Bartlett)

       Bruce Bartlett held senior policy roles in the Reagan and 
     George H.W. Bush administrations and served on the staffs of 
     Representatives Jack Kemp and Ron Paul.
       Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates gave a speech in Brussels 
     on Friday in which he berated our allies in the North 
     Atlantic Treaty Organization for not carrying their weight in 
     terms of providing resources for the common defense. ``For 
     all but a handful of allies, defense budgets--in absolute 
     terms, as a share of economic output--have been chronically 
     starved for adequate funding for a long time, with the 
     shortfalls compounding on themselves each year,'' Mr. Gates 
     said.
       An examination of the latest NATO data shows that in 2010, 
     the United States spent 5.4 percent of its gross domestic 
     product on its military--twice as much as spent by Britain 
     and three to four times as much as most of our NATO allies, 
     as shown in the following table.

                                                 MILITARY EXPENDITURES AS A PERCENTAGE OF G.D.P. IN NATO
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                  Country                    1985-89, average           2010                   Country             1985-89, average          2010
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U.S.......................................                6.0                 5.4   Norway......................                2.9                 1.5
Greece....................................                4.5                 2.9   Czech Rep...................                 --                 1.4
Britain...................................                4.4                 2.7   Denmark.....................                2.0                 1.4
Albania...................................                 --                 2.0   Germany.....................                2.9                 1.4
France....................................                3.7                 2.0   Italy.......................                2.2                 1.4
Poland....................................                 --                 1.9   Netherlands.................                2.8                 1.4
Turkey....................................                2.5                 1.9   Romania.....................                 --                 1.3
Estonia...................................                 --                 1.8   Slovak Rep..................                 --                 1.3

[[Page E1106]]

 
Bulgaria..................................                 --                 1.7   Belgium.....................                2.7                 1.1
NATO--Europe..............................                3.1                 1.7   Hungary.....................                 --                 1.1
Portugal..................................                2.5                 1.6   Spain.......................                2.1                 1.1
Slovenia..................................                 --                 1.6   Latvia......................                 --                 1.0
Canada....................................                2.1                 1.5   Lithuania...................                 --                 0.9
Croatia...................................                 --                 1.5   Luxembourg..................                0.8                0.5
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North Atlantic Treaty Organization.

       A crucial reason for this gap is that the United States 
     spends almost as much today as it did during the Cold War. 
     Every other NATO country spends substantially less.
       Secretary Gates also made another point about military 
     spending by our allies: they spend much more on personnel and 
     less on equipment than the United States. ``The result is 
     that investment accounts for future modernization and other 
     capabilities not directly related to Afghanistan are being 
     squeezed out--as we are seeing today over Libya,'' he 
     cautioned.
       According to NATO, the United States spends 46.7 percent of 
     its military budget on personnel. All but five other NATO 
     countries spend more--often considerably more. The average 
     for all NATO countries other than the United States is 56.7 
     percent of their military budgets spent on personnel, with a 
     number of countries spending two-thirds to three-quarters.
       Consequently, there is little money left over for 
     equipment. The United States spends 24.2 percent of its 
     military budget on equipment and only five NATO countries 
     spend more. The average for all NATO countries other than the 
     United States is 16.7 percent of military spending going to 
     equipment, with a number of countries spending less than 10 
     percent.
       But what about our adversaries? Don't we need to maintain a 
     high level of military spending to counter the capabilities 
     of countries like Russia and China?
       For those data, we need to look to a different source. 
     According to the latest yearbook from the Stockholm 
     International Peace Research Institute, the standard 
     nonclassified source, Russia spent 4.3 percent of its G.D.P. 
     on military outlays in 2009, down from 15.8 percent in 1988; 
     China spent just 2.2 percent of its G.D.P. on the military 
     budget, about the same as it has been since 1989.

                                                 MILITARY SPENDING IN SELECTED NON-NATO COUNTRIES, 2009
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                                                   Spending                                                              Spending
                   Country                    (millions, $U.S.)     % of G.D.P.                 Country             (millions, $U.S.)     % of G.D.P.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Australia...................................             18,963                1.9  Japan.........................             51,008                1.0
China.......................................            110,100                2.2  South Korea...................             24,372                2.9
Cuba........................................              2,249                n/a  Libya (2008)..................              1,100                1.2
Egypt.......................................              4,017                2.1  Pakistan......................              5,039                2.8
India.......................................             35,819                2.8  Russia........................             53,300                4.3
Iran (2008).................................              7,044                1.8  Saudi Arabia..................             41,273               11.2
Israel......................................             12,373                6.3  United States.................            668,604               4.7
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Stockholm International Peace Research Institute.

       The institute notes that the United States accounted for 
     virtually all of the increase in world military spending in 
     2010.
       And because the United States has the world's largest 
     economy, its share of world military spending is outsized, 
     accounting for 43 percent of all the military spending on 
     Earth--six times as much as China, which has the world's 
     second largest military budget and accounts for 7.3 percent 
     of world military spending. Russia accounts for just 3.6 
     percent.
       With polls showing declining support for the war in 
     Afghanistan and increasing talk in Congress, even among 
     Republicans, about cutting the military budget, it appears 
     certain that the Defense Department is going to be downsized 
     and our foreign military commitments scaled back in coming 
     years.
       This is going to require serious rethinking of what we 
     perceive to be our strategic threats and whether the United 
     States can continue to afford to be the world's peacekeeper.

                          ____________________