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Congress makes the budget
Jim Hartman’s commentary on the “shrinking U.S. Navy” conveniently ignores basic budgetary facts in order to criticize the Biden administration’s proposed budget.
Fact: the actual appropriated military budget is determined by Congress, not any administration — not Biden’s, not Trump’s. Any aspect of appropriated military funding that does not meet policies “mandated by law” is the responsibility of Congress.
Fact: for the last 50 years the annual U.S. appropriations for Defense spending have exceeded the combined total of the next 10 countries, including China and Russia. So, does the fat Defense budget need to be further increased to build (and maintain) more ships to compete with China and Russia?
Fact: The Trump administration proposed a long-term “Battle Force 2045 plan” that, like too many of Trump’s proposals, totally ignored any way to fund it.
So, if anyone wants to increase funding to build (and maintain) more Navy ships, they need to lobby Congress in competition with all the other interests wanting to increase their own portion of the bloated Defense budget. They would need the courage to realistically propose what other slices of the Defense budget pie should be cut.
But, in our current ultra-polarized politics, it is easier to criticize than deal with facts, let alone to do the work of proposing viable solutions to real problems.
Jon Nowlin
Carson City

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