Reminder about the Ryan Budget on Defense

Republican Presidential candidate Mitt Romney’s decision to name Rep. Paul Ryan’s (R-WI) as his VP nominee triggered considerable focus on Ryan’s leadership of the House Budget Committee, including the role of defense in the budget package he introduced earlier this year. 

 

As our own Russell Rumbaugh observed at the time, the defense numbers proposed by the President and the House Budget Committee are close, and both would represent year-on-year cuts, after adjusting for inflation. The gap widens in later years, but Congress appropriates just one year at a time.  As Russell pointed out: 

 

In the outyears, the Republican budget lets defense increase pretty steadily, alt hough outyears are easy to play with since they’ll be relegislated next year.  So the Republican budget, like the President’s request, actually acknowledges defense is going down this year even as all the hortatory language says defense is special.

From the looks of Romney’s decision to go with Ryan, the idea that Republicans would spare defense from cuts continues to erode.