In recent weeks, news about the financial market failure and debate over the bailout of Wall Street has eclipsed most other issues in the public eye. The massive spending package of $700 billion is being seen as monumental but it has also fueled worries about its effects on future spending opportunities and our national debt. Yet during the very same week, the 2009 Defense Appropriations Bill — which contained spending of similar proportions — was passed almost unnoticed.
Now, the presidential candidates are joining in a national conversation about energy independence and strategies for sustainability. But what is missing from the conversation, and what most people don't know, is that the federal government spends billions of dollars each year securing access to oil supplies around the globe through military action. On October 14, National Priorities Project releases a new report showing that the U.S. military is spending a staggering percentage of its annual budget on securing and defending access to energy resources internationally.
When you look at the federal budget, military and energy are major line items. What we're learning now is that, in the context of current policy, they are inextricably bound together. Americans consume 20 million barrels of oil a day and 60% of that is imported. We use the military to defend and gain access to those global resources. We pay for this through our tax dollars. Therefore, the true cost of our nation's dependence on non-renewable sources of energy to fuel our economy is not entirely reflected in the high prices we pay at the pump. The key to extricating our military policy from our energy consumption, and deconstructing and accessing the enormous military budget, lies in substantially increasing our investment in renewable energy sources.
There is good news from the events of recent weeks. In the final bailout package there was money allocated for renewable energy, which was not a mere deal-sweetener. Increased investment in renewable clean energy is one necessary step towards shrinking the military slice of the pie and releasing funds to further invest in real economic alternatives.
And there is more good news: Congress showed itself willing to spend money in the name of saving the real economy. As Americans are paying more attention to how the financial crisis will effect their own retirement and security, they are thinking more about the complex connections between different sectors of the economy and government spending. New studies show that a dollar of military spending is worth more and creates more job opportunities when invested in the green economy. Good and viable alternatives exist. Opportunities abound for green jobs involving engineers and construction workers alike, grabbing students before they finish their degrees.
People are waking up and re-engaging in decision- and policymaking. The call to invest in a real and sustainable economy, rather than a set of militarized priorities, could be heard and acted upon in new ways on many different levels — from the executive level to the grassroots. A new administration means new opportunities; the timing has never been better.
Suzanne Smith is a contributor to Foreign Policy In Focus and a research economist at the National Priorities Project.
