For all of us who are frustrated over the outcome of the FY2007 Iraq supplemental that passed when Congress acted like the co-dependent spouse of an alcoholic and are being told "wait until September", here is something to consider: September will be too late because the budget will be done by then. In fact, the DoD budget request is on line now. Click here, then follow the links.
From The Republican Plan For 2008 Begins Today, by Thom Hartmann:
It's difficult to watch Democrats play checkers while Republicans play Chess with Iraq. It's particularly difficult on Memorial Day as more Americans and Iraqis die.
Enough is enough. Let's play some chess. An idea how below the fold.
The only way to force change on Iraq, other than impeachment, is to pressure our representatives to restrict funding. Since the FY2007 Iraq supplemental has already been signed into law, we need to look several chess moves ahead ahead at the FY2008 DoD budget request, which is already on line. As noted above, this page has the links to the budget details. Keep in mind the links are to the budget requests from the services and DoD, not necessarily what Congress will approve.
Congress funds the DoD each year, traditionally through three separate appropriations measures. The most important is the Defense Appropriations Bill. (The second appropriations bill funds the Military Construction account and the third bill funds the Department of Energy. I think there are other bills that fund the "intelligence community" and the Veterans Administration, but I am focusing on the DoD right now for obvious reasons.)
The new fiscal year (FY2008) begins October 1, 2007 which means Congress should be working on the appropriations bills over the next four months. We need to dig through all the budget material and get to our representatives before the appropriations bill is passed and signed into law.
Let's dig in to what the DoD proposes and identify what needs to be changed and/or eliminated. I know this is a lot of tedious, "green eyeshade" reading. But I think we can discover items to cut, publicize them, and collectively pressure our representatives beginning now and while the budget is going through the committees. We don't need to wait for the final floor votes. The four relevant committees and their members are listed below. You have additional influence if your Senator or Representative is on any of them (members on each are listed by party then in seniority order):
Senate Armed Services Comnmittee
Democrats and Independents
Carl Levin (MI), Chairman
Edward M. Kennedy (MA)
Robert C. Byrd (WV)
Joseph I. Lieberman (I-CT)
Jack Reed (RI)
Daniel K. Akaka (HI)
Bill Nelson (FL)
E. Benjamin Nelson (NE)
Evan Bayh (IN)
Hillary Rodham Clinton (NY)
Mark L. Pryor (AR)
Jim Webb (VA)
Claire McCaskill (MO)
GOPigs
John McCain (AZ), Ranking Member
John W. Warner (VA)
James M. Inhofe (OK)
Jeff Sessions (AL)
Susan M. Collins (ME)
John Ensign (NV)
Saxby Chambliss (GA)
Lindsey O. Graham (SC)
Elizabeth Dole (NC)
John Cornyn (TX)
John Thune (SD)
Mel Martinez (FL)
Committee website here.
Click here for subcommittees and their membership.
To contact the committee:
228 Russell Senate Office Building
Washington, Dc 20510
(202) 224-3871
House Armed Services Committee
Democrats
Ike Skelton (MO), Chairman
John Spratt, (SC)
Solomon P. Ortiz (TX)
Gene Taylor (MS)
Neil Abercrombie (HI)
Marty Meehan (MA)
Silvestre Reyes (TX)
Vic Snyder (AR)
Adam Smith (WA)
Loretta Sanchez (CA)
Mike McIntyre (NC)
Ellen O. Tauscher (CA)
Robert A. Brady (PA)
Robert Andrews (NJ)
Susan A. Davis (CA)
Rick Larsen (WA)
Jim Cooper (TN)
Jim Marshall (GA)
Madeleine Z. Bordallo (Guam)
Mark Udall (CO)
Dan Boren (OK)
Brad Ellsworth (IN)
Nancy Boyda (KS)
Patrick Murphy (PA)
Hank Johnson (GA)
Carol Shea-Porter (NH)
Joe Courtney (CT)
David Loebsack (IA)
Kirsten Gillibrand (NY)
Joe Sestak (DA)
Gabrielle Giffords (AZ)
Elijah Cummings (MD)
Kendrick Meek (FL)
Kathy Castor (FL)
GOPigs
Duncan Hunter (CA), Ranking Member
Jim Saxton (NJ)
John M. McHugh (NY)
Terry Everett (AL)
Roscoe G. Bartlett (MD)
Buck McKeon (CA)
Mac Thornberry (TX)
Walter B. Jones (NC)
Robin Hayes (NC)
Ken Calvert (CA)
Jo Ann Davis (VA)
W. Todd Akin (MO)
J. Randy Forbes (VA)
Jeff Miller (FL)
Joe Wilson (SC)
Frank A. LoBiondo (NJ)
Tom Cole (OK)
Rob Bishop (UT)
Michael Turner (OH)
John Kline (MN)
Candice S. Miller (MI)
Phil Gingrey (GA)
Mike Rogers (AL)
Trent Franks (AZ)
Thelma Drake (VA)
Cathy McMorris Rodgers (WA)
Michael Conaway (TX)
Geoff Davis (KY)
Committee website here.
Click here for subcommittee membership.
To contact the committee:
2120 Rayburn House Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20515
Phone: (202) 225-4151
Fax: (202) 225-9077
Senate Appropriations Committee
Democrats
Robert C. Byrd (WV), Chairman
Daniel K. Inouye (HI) (Chair, Defense Subcommittee)
Patrick J. Leahy (VT) (Serves on Defense Subcommittee)
Tom Harkin (IA) (Serves on Defense Subcommittee)
Barbara A. Mikulski (MD) (Serves on Defense Subcommittee)
Herb Kohl (WI) (Serves on Defense Subcommittee)
Patty Murray (WA) (Serves on Defense Subcommittee)
Byron Dorgan (ND) (Serves on Defense Subcommittee)
Dianne Feinstein (CA) (Serves on Defense Subcommittee)
Richard J. Durbin (IL) (Serves on Defense Subcommittee)
Tim Johnson (SD)
Mary L. Landrieu (LA)
Jack Reed (RI)
Frank R. Lautenberg (NJ)
Ben Nelson (NE)
GOPigs
Thad Cochran (MS), Ranking Member
Ted Stevens (AK) (Chair, Defense Subcommittee)
Areln Specter (PA) (Serves on Defense Subcommittee)
Pete V. Domenici (NM) (Serves on Defense Subcommittee)
Christoper S. Bond (MO) (Serves on Defense Subcommittee)
Mitch McConnell (KY) (Serves on Defense Subcommittee)
Richard C. Shelby (AL) (Serves on Defense Subcommittee)
Judd Gregg (NH) (Serves on Defense Subcommittee)
Robert F. Bennett (UT)
Larry Craig (ID)
Kay Bailey Hutchison (TX) (Serves on Defense Subcommittee)
Sam Brownback (KS)
Wayne Allard (CO)
Lamar Alexander (TN)
Committee website here.
To contact the committee:
Senate Appropriations Committee
The Capitol, S-131
Washington, D.C.20510
(202) 224-7363
House Appropriations Committee
Democrats
David R. Obey (WI), Chair (Defense Subcommittee Ex Officio)
John P. Murtha (PA) (Chair of Defense Subcommittee)
Norman D. Dicks (WA) (Serves on Defense Subcommittee)
Alan B. Mollohan (WV)
Marcy Kaptur (OH) (Serves on Defense Subcommittee)
Peter J. Visclosky (IN) (Serves on Defense Subcommittee)
Nita M. Lowey (NY)
José E. Serrano (NY)
Rosa L. DeLauro (CT)
James P. Moran (VA) (Serves on Defense Subcommittee)
John W. Olver (MA)
Ed Pastor (AZ)
David E. Price (NC)
Chet Edwards (TX)
Robert E. "Bud" Cramer, Jr. (AL) (Serves on Defense Subcommittee)
Patrick J. Kennedy (RI)
Maurice D. Hinchey (NY)
Lucille Roybal-Allard (CA)
Sam Farr (CA)
Jesse L. Jackson, Jr. (IL)
Carolyn C. Kilpatrick (MI)
Allen Boyd (FL) (Serves on Defense Subcommittee)
Chaka Fattah (PA)
Steven R. Rothman (NJ) (Serves on Defense Subcommittee)
Sanford Bishop (GA) (Serves on Defense Subcommittee)
Marion Berry (AR)
Barbara Lee (CA)
Tom Udall (NM)
Adam Schiff (CA)
Michael Honda (CA)
Betty McCollum (MN)
Steve Israel (NY)
Tim Ryan (OH)
C.A "Dutch" Ruppersberger (MD)
Ben Chandler (KY)
Debbie Wasserman Schultz (FL)
Ciro Rodriguez (TX)
GOPigs
Jerry Lewis (CA), Ranking Member (Defense Subcommittee Ex Officio)
C.W. Bill Young (FL) (Ranking Member, Defense Subcommittee)
Ralph Regula (OH
Harold Rogers (KY)
Frank R. Wolf (VA)
James T. Walsh (NY)
David L. Hobson (OH) (Serves on Defense Subcommittee)
Joe Knollenberg (MI)
Jack Kingston (GA) (Serves on Defense Subcommittee)
Rodney P. Frelinghuysen (NJ) (Serves on Defense Subcommittee)
Roger F. Wicker (MI) (Serves on Defense Subcommittee)
Todd Tiahrt (KS) (Serves on Defense Subcommittee)
Zach Wamp (TN)
Tom Latham (IA)
Robert B.Aderholt (AL)
Jo Ann Emerson (MO)
Kay Granger (TX)
John E. Peterson (PA)
Virgil H. Goode, Jr. (VA)
John T. Doolittle (CA)
Ray LaHood (IL)
Dave Weldon (FL)
Michael K. Simpson (ID)
John Abney Culberson (TX)
Mark Steven Kirk (IL)
Ander Crenshaw (FL)
Dennis R. Rehberg (MT)
John Carter (TX)
Rodney Alexander (LA)
Committee website here.
To contact the committee:
House Appropriations Committee
H-218 U.S. Capitol
Washington, D.C. 20515
(202) 225-2771
The Democrats who vote with us deserve our support. Those who vote otherwise deserve a primary challenge. And all GOPigs deserve to be defeated in November, 2008.
The DoD budget is where strategy, policy, plans, programs, force structure (equipment), readiness, and modernization -- each of which is a topic in its own right -- all come together and become real. Nothing happens inside the DoD unless Congress authorizes and appropriates dollars to be spent.
If we can influence the DoD budget, we can accomplish a lot.
Additional information:
DoD budget
- For background on how the budget process works, start here.
- Or read my diary from earlier this year.
- See this link for the site map of the DoD Comptroller's web site.
For background on DoD organization, see the first chapter of this publication.