The Senate’s Military Spending Increase Alone Is Enough to Make Public College Free

[Tennis]

One of the most controversial proposals put forward by Sen. Bernie Sanders during the 2016 presidential campaign was a pledge to make tuition free at public colleges and universities. Critics from both parties howled that the pie-in-the-sky idea would bankrupt the country. Where, after all, would the money come from?

Those concerns were brushed aside Monday night, as the Senate overwhelmingly approved an $80 billion annual increase in military spending, enough to have fully satisfied Sanders’s campaign promise. Instead, the Senate handed President Donald Trump far more than the $54 billion he asked for. The lavish spending package gives Trump a major legislative victory, allowing him to boast about fulfilling his promise of a “great rebuilding of the armed services.”

The bill would set the U.S.’s annual military budget at around $700 billion, putting it within range of matching the spending level at the height of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.

To put that in further perspective: If the package becomes law, U.S. military spending would exceed the total spending of its next 10 rivals put together, going off of 2016 military spending estimates from the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute.

Put another way, with a $700 billion military budget, the U.S. would be spending more than three times as much as China on its military, and 10 times as much as Russia. According to SIPRI, the U.S. already accounts for more than a third of all military spending.


Or with $80 billion a year, you could make public colleges and universities in the U.S. tuition-free. In fact, Sanders’s proposal was only estimated to cost the federal government $47 billion per year.

If the additional military spending over the next 10 years instead went to pay off student debt, it could come close to wiping it out entirely.

But proposals like that are written off as nonstarters, even by Democrats. In her new book, Hillary Clinton compares Sanders’s idea to him nonsensically saying “America should get a pony.” And while concerns about the cost of ponies abound, few Democrats are raising similar concerns about military spending, even when it is meant for a commander-in-chief they consider reckless and unstable.

The Senate voted 89-8, with three senators not voting, to approve the military money. Spendthrift Sanders joined only four other Democratic senators to vote against the bill: Kirsten Gillibrand of New York, Patrick Leahy of Vermont, and Jeff Merkley and Ron Wyden from Oregon. Republicans Bob Corker of Tennessee, Rand Paul of Kentucky, and Mike Lee of Utah also voted against it.

When Trump submitted a budget proposal in March, which cut social spending dramatically to fund a $54 billion increase in defense spending, Democrats criticized it as a nonstarter. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said he “emphatically opposed” the blueprint, and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi said the budget “throws billions of dollars at defense while ransacking” health and education funding.

Before the bill becomes law, it is has to be reconciled with the version the House already passed, which contains a similar $77 billion spending increase. It is likely to become law by the end of the year.

Shocking.
You really wonder about democracy these days.

How do you feel about this? I think we should spend more on education not the military.

[petej0]

Shocking.
You really wonder about democracy these days.

How do you feel about this? I think we should spend more on education not the military.

If that is all it takes to make college tuition free how come no other President has proposed such a thing?

[Forgettable]

If that is all it takes to make college tuition free how come no other President has proposed such a thing?

Because fuck the people apparently.

[Seranthor]

Shocking.
You really wonder about democracy these days.

How do you feel about this? I think we should spend more on education not the military.

If you take the money away from the military who will defend the defenseless Canadians, their government wont do it.

It's pretty tragic actually that the Canadian government hates their citizens so badly that they'd outsource their national defense to a country run by a talking cheeto.

[Rukh]

If that is all it takes to make college tuition free how come no other President has proposed such a thing?

Do you see young people who can't afford college lobbying and donating millions to senate campaigns? No? There's your answer. They don't spend enough free speeches to get their way.

[Seranthor]

How do you feel about this? I think we should spend more on education not the military.

You know there are ways to get free college, serving your country in the military is one... besides, if you were all in for free college why dont you run for President and make it happen?

[Tennis]

If you take the money away from the military who will defend the defenseless Canadians, their government wont do it.

Defend us from what. We're fine.

[Seranthor]

Defend us from what. We're fine.

wait a minute, didn't you just say we to make it appear you were American? when did you become a Canadian us? or are you account sharing with someone in the US?

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Americans should just illegally enter Canada and get free healthcare and education. And be sure to send that money home. Canada can afford it. So much unused land and lack of respect and involvement in the global community. This would be a great way to show the world how great Canada is. No borders, and free education, healthcare and living subsidy for all people regardless of nationality, education, language, beliefs or criminal backgrounds. I believe in this Canada.

What a brilliant idea, and if we are stopped we should say that a certain person said it was okay to ignore the borders and that Canada was the bestest country ever and that they treat everyone the greatest.

[Azadina]

So Trump can now unban trans from military, when that "terrible cost" is no longer an issue, with 80 billion extra added to yearly budget. Or was the cost not the reason afterall?

[Dug]

So Trump can now unban trans from military, when that "terrible cost" is no longer an issue, with 80 billion extra added to yearly budget. Or was the cost not the reason afterall?

Look the 5 trans people in the military were a BIG DEAL okay??

[Mittens]

Why would you make public college free? If the issue is poor people, give them grants or something similar.

I don't feel comfortable when money goes to subsidize upper-middle-class people.

[Azadina]

Look the 5 trans people in the military were a BIG DEAL okay??

I know! I'm totally trying to give Trump the benefit of the doubt here. Afterall, I think 80 billion can more than enough cover a couple million cost, that before getting that 80 billion was not affordable somehow. So the question is, will the "most LGBT friendly president ever" overturn the ban, now that the so called reason for it doesn't exist?

[Draco-Onis]

Why would you make public college free? If the issue is poor people, give them grants or something similar.

I don't feel comfortable when money goes to subsidize upper-middle-class people.

It could be tied to income and you can also help the poor by boosting school lunch programs including summer school since that is where poor children get to eat. There are a lot of ways to spend the money but the problem is the only way to free the money is for the US to stop being the police of the world. The only part of Trump's campaign that I actually agreed with and he is not going to do that.

[Dug]

Shhh, they're not interested in facts. The reality that Chaz Bono can't have routine access to the hormones he needs and constant psychological treatment in a war zone, making him non-deployable isn't an issue here. A bunch of people who spit on the military and would never dream of joining, have an opinion and they want it heard. Freedom from consequence and freedom from responsibility at all costs for them and theirs. Anyone else who dare speak against the dogma should be fired, assaulted and blackballed for all eternity. 2 legs good, 4 legs bad.

Know that I am making fun of morons like you. Take your stolen valor shtick and push it elsewhere

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I know! I'm totally trying to give Trump the benefit of the doubt here. Afterall, I think 80 billion can more than enough cover a couple million cost, that before getting that 80 billion was not affordable somehow. So the question is, will the "most LGBT friendly president ever" overturn the ban, now that the so called reason for it doesn't exist?

Hell no, gotta keep drumming up that support from the base. Anything different ever is scary and the enemy

[Garnier Fructis]

Better education isn't going to keep China in check.

And besides, why is this always presented as an either or? We can do both, you know.

[Azadina]

This is an example of the issues of reconciling the Democratic base (I don't know if you're a Democrat).

I also don't think everyone needs to go to college. I echo Hillary's sentiment about vocational school being emphasized more to restructure our service industry. But education is a priority, especially with a globalizing economy. That will help displaced workers.

Nor is everyone even cut out for that, even if they get the chance to go for free. Just like not everyone is even capable of becoming a medical doctor, or scientist, even if given a chance.

While I think schools should be provided for free, I also think they should be provided on basis of the persons own limitations. As in, if you're not cut out for X Z or Y school, you won't get there.

[petej0]

Do you see young people who can't afford college lobbying and donating millions to senate campaigns? No? There's your answer. They don't spend enough free speeches to get their way.

Comparing the cost of anything to our military budget makes everything look affordable.

Republicans don't really need explanation. They spend money on whatever they want and complain about spending when they don't want it.

Democrats.. it's just complicated. There's no such thing as pressing a button and suddenly it's free. That's not a responsible plan. How is it distributed? What about cost controls for tuition? Plus there are still factions in the party that moderates and leftists need to reconcile in a plan. While Democrats are the party out of power, they need to be putting an education plan together to bring to the table next election and not sit around bitching like the Republicans did with healthcare.

It has never been realistically proposed because neither side has any desire to deal with the issue.

[petej0]

Nor is everyone even cut out for that, even if they get the chance to go for free. Just like not everyone is even capable of becoming a medical doctor, or scientist, even if given a chance.

While I think schools should be provided for free, I also think they should be provided on basis of the persons own limitations. As in, if you're not cut out for X Z or Y school, you won't get there.

I agree, and that will be reflected in new admission standards. Now you had to have good grades and ability to pay. There was a natural gateway for entry. With everyone having the ability to "pay" they will have to rely more on Grades and Potential. Which opens up avenues for parents and students to claim rights violations.

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Well Bernie was kind of the first person to actually bring the suggestion to the national conversation. And that was basically a year ago...

And he was pushed to the side by his own "party". "he is just crazy uncle Bernie"

[Seranthor]

Why is it that the government should cover the ever increasing upward spiral of higher education costs? Where exactly is the push to drive down education costs because its just another example of sucking at the teet of the government, just like Big Oil, Big Auto, Big Pharma, Big Education.

[Dug]

Haha, I'll put my IQ, income and achievements up against yours any day. Idiots like you is why Trump was elected. No intelligent observation, no research, no verification. Someone gives you an opinion and you go with it.

No I'm pretty sure Trump was elected because you marked him in on your ballot. So much for that IQ. Are you by chance also a navy seal with over 300 confirmed kills that is trained in gorilla warfare?