From Draft NOtices, September-October 2000
- Molly Morgan
A decade after the official end of the Cold War, the Pentagon budget is still astonishingly bloated and Congress routinely gives it more than they ask for. Military spending takes up over half of the discretionary federal budget — $305 billion in 2001. The next largest category, education, is only $42 billion. The U.S. military not only has the most advanced weaponry with the biggest stockpiles, but outspends every other country by an enormous amount. The combined military spending of Russia, China, and the seven "states of concern" is still much less than half that of the United States. While global military spending continues to decline, the U.S.’s share continues to increase; in 1998 it was up to 36%.