WAR MACHINE ALWAYS WINS: Congress Wants $45B Tacked on to Biden’s Military Budget Request
Congress has to pass the 2023 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) that is required by 31 December
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We have long noted that the one issue that can bring together the most hardened liberal Democrats, and the most conservative Republicans is the vote for war.
After all, what other issue would you find Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Sen. Mitch McConnell agreeing on?
It was reported Wednesday that members of the House and Senate Armed Service committees agreed to add $45 billion more to President Joe Biden’s already gargantuan 2023 National Defense Authorization Act, according to a newly released report on Wednesday.
Politico, citing four people familiar with the negotiations, reported that the deal would set the budget at $847 billion for national defense, with the possibility of reaching as high as $858 billion.
We reported in July that the House voted in favor of an $850.3 billion national security budget that members say will help the U.S. respond to continued threats and surging inflation. The House passed the bill in a 329-101 vote. The “no” votes included 62 Republicans and 39 Democrats.
“With inflation factored in, it is a good increase but it’s essential because of inflation and also the need to continue significant programs,” Sen. Jack Reed, the chair of the Senate Armed Services, said in an interview, according to Politico.
As the global economies sink into recession, as world hunger escalates, as inflation spikes and people pay much more to buy a lot less, as world poverty levels increase and the middle class shrinks…countries around the world have increased their military budgets and built up their defenses since the Ukraine War began in February.
But the War Machine Always Wins.
And Bill La Plante, the undersecretary of defense for acquisition and sustainment, said months ago that he expected Congress—no matter what party was in control—would approve new weapons purchasing power at levels not seen since the Cold War.
WATCH: CELENTE, NAPOLITANO, RITTER, NULL, GIRALDI, DISCUSS THE UKRAINE WAR
“They are going to give us multiyear authority, and they’re going to give us funding to really put into the industrial base,” he told George Mason University at the time. “And I’m talking billions of dollars into the industrial base—to fund these production lines. That, I predict, is going to happen, and it’s happening now. And then people will have to say: ‘I guess they were serious about it.’ But we have not done that since the Cold War.”
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AntiWar.org reported that LaPlante has been pushing for the approval that would allow the Pentagon to lock in certain purchases from Lockheed Martin, Raytheon Technologies, BAE Systems, and Kongsberg Defense and Aerospace for the next two years.
It is worth noting that Lloyd Austin, the defense secretary, was a former board member for Raytheon before taking the role in President Biden’s Cabinet.
Sen. Rand Paul took to Twitter to say he will oppose the bill “unless the Senate votes on an amendment to prohibit discharges from the Armed Forces solely because of vaccination status. The amendment will also reinstate service members already discharged w/ back pay.”
Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., also signed the letter, and said, “Bottom line: the COVID-19 vaccine does not prevent infection or transmission. So why does the Biden admin force our men and women in uniform to take it? Before moving forward on NDAA, the Senate should vote on ending the insane COVID-19 military vaccine mandate.”
TREND FORECAST: As Gerald Celente says, “When all else fails, they take you to war.”
As economies go down, governments, run by the mentally ill, spend more of the people’s money on the military, fueling the worsening financial crisis while stoking the flames of war.
Go back to the cover of the Trends Journal on 22 February, two days before the Russian invasion of Ukraine. It read: “FROM COVID WAR, TO UKRAINE WAR, TO WORLD WAR: TALK OF PEACE IS FORBIDDEN.”
With the sharp escalation of military budgets the trend-line for war is clear. Unless we unite for peace, WWIII will be our reality. And as Albert Einstein said, “I know not with what weapons World War III will be fought, but World War IV will be fought with sticks and stones.”