Update of the Defense Department Numbers published in last post...
Our
Congressional Delegation—Leahy, Sanders and Welch--do an absolutely
lousy job educating Vermonters on the federal budget and how we all
get fleeced by Trump and the Republicans. The Defense budget is the
most obvious, the 2017 federal budget, part-year President Obama
compared to the two Trump budgets, the one we operate under right
now, federal fiscal year 2019, and the “base” budget Congress has
agreed to started October 1, 2018 for 2019, total defense increase is
$83.1 billion. Based on Vermont's per capita share of $2 million per
billion of federal expenditure we undertake an additional $166
million share of Defense expenditures, fiscal year 2019 over fiscal
year 2017. This truly is “huge.” For example, the 13,000
Vermont renter households (about one in seven statewide) receiving
federal “affordable housing assistance” (30% of income max for
rent) consumes about $106 million federal funds. The defense
department increase equals over 1 ½ times total federal
affordable housing assistance in Vermont helping 13,000 renters, one
in seven rental households ! Which do you prefer, serving the needs
of 1,800 households on housing assistance waiting lists alone here in
Chittenden County or $166 million more for defense? Likely and
correctly Leahy, Sanders, and Welch will say if they did not support
the $83.1 billion defense increase, the Republican Scrooge Brigade
would have gutted housing assistance and most other discretionary
social support programs like our community health centers and child
services. Fine, Congressional delegation, but tell the truth
every day how this year Vermonters anti-up $166 million to support
more F 35s, the Afghanistan War, etc. Each breath of criticizing a
Supreme Court nominee, single payer health, or farmer subsidies, tell
us Vermonters where our program increases tax money goes to—more F
35s and military drones. The lack of honesty from our Vermont
political leaders helps explains frustration building up since about
1980 over the accelerating maldistribution of economic benefits which
mostly accrue to the top 1%. Sad comment on the so-called leaders
of Vermont with its town meeting government where town budgets get
screened down the the last penny.
Base defense budget numbers used
here does not include “Overseas Contingency Operations”
($71.7 billion FFY 2017) or other related expenditures which
includes VA, and other defense support $228.2 billion budget enacted
FFY 2017.
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