The New York Times reports that President Obama has taken a substantial bite out of military budget, paring it back to "only" $680 billion.
White House officials say Mr. Obama took advantage of a rare political moment to break through one of Washington’s most powerful lobbies and trim more weapons systems than any president had in decades.
That in itself is no small political accomplishment. The money saved is icing on the cake.
“They probably get an ‘A’ from the standpoint of their success on their major initiatives,” said Fred Downey, a former Senate aide who is now vice president for national security at the Aerospace Industries Association. “They probably got all of them but one or maybe two, and that’s an extraordinarily high score.” ...
... “In terms of sort of bringing fiscal responsibility to Washington and changing the way the place works, you couldn’t have picked a more challenging area than the defense budget,” said Rob Nabors, the deputy director of the White House’s Office of Management and Budget.
And it's just a start. More budget cutting to come.
