ARE U.S. SENATORS INFLUENCED BY THE MILITARY-INDUSTRIAL COMPLEX?

WHEN VOTING ON AMERICA’S DEFENSE COMMITMENTS …

In President Eisenhower’s farewell radio and television address, he famously warned the American people about the potential dangers of a ‘military-industrial complex’ …

“In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military-industrial complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist. We must never let the weight of this combination endanger our liberties or democratic processes. We should take nothing for granted. Only an alert and knowledgeable citzenry can compel the proper meshing of the huge industrial and military machinery of defense with our peaceful methods and goals, so that security and liberty may prosper together.”

After losing thousands of American lives and spending trillions of American tax dollars on military contracts to support seemingly endless wars in Iraq, Afghanistan and Syria, Eisenhower’s prescient warning resonates with us.

Consequently, we decided to review how U.S senators have voted on three significant bills — one granting the use of military force in Iraq, another authorizing the spending of nearly $700 billion on defense in 2018, and a third censoring President Trump for planning to withdraw U.S. troops from Afghanistan and Syrian wars that have been going on for 7 and 18 years, respectively:

1. 2002: Authorization for Use of Military Force Against Iraq
2. 2017: National Defense Authorization Act
3. 2019: Strengthening America’s Security in Middle East Act

Suspicious of ‘military-industrial complex’ influence on those three important bills that directly impact defense spending, we reviewed votes made specifically by senators representing the top 10 states receiving federal defense spending and contracts (2017).

Here is what we found …

Senators representing the top 10 states voted “yea” an average of 98% and “nay” an average of only 22%. Republicans and Democrats voted “yea” an average of 86% and 98%, respectively.

SenateVotes

America’s 15 Biggest Defense Contractors have headquarters located primarily in California, Texas and Virginia, with major facilities planted in the top 10 states receiving federal defense spending and contracts.

Biggest-Defense-Contractors-1

In the 2018 election cycle, America’s defense contractors donated approximately $25 million to federal politicians and political parties, according to analysis from the Center for Responsible Politics, which draws on the Federal Election Commission’s latest political-candidate-contribution report.

RANK	COMPANY	DONATION ($ M)	STATE HQS
1	Northrop Grumman	$3.650	VA
2	Boeing	$2.894	IL
3	Lockheed Martin	$2.865	MD
4	General Dynamics	$2.018	VA
5	Raytheon	$1.903	NJ
6	United Technologies	$1.093	CT
7	Harris Corp	$0.992	FL
8	BAE Systems	$0.779	VA
9	Huntington Ingalls	$0.744	VA
10	Leidos	$0.736	VA
11	L3 Technologies	$0.529	NY
12	Honeywell	$0.477	NJ
13	SAIC	$0.323	VA
14	GE	$0.307	OH
15	Sierra Nevada Corp	$0.277	NV

To be clear …

We are not accusing either defense contractors or senators of corrupt or unpatriotic behavior, as we know they have our country’s best interests at heart.

We support a strong defense that deters our largest and most dangerous enemies — China and Russia — from even thinking about challenging us.

And we realize that terrorist organizations and their malign facilitators, while currently badly beaten, can revitalize and threaten the homeland if we do not keep them on the run.

However, as our downrange defense commitments are overextended, our budget deficit soars toward $1 trillion, and too many of our brave soldiers experience casualties, suicide, drug addiction and PTSD from overseas civil wars, Congress would be wise to limit our foreign military ventures to their original mission scope, rely more heavily on international alliances and partners to shoulder the financial and defense burden in their neighborhoods, prioritize our limited resources on domestic needs, and beware any unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military-industrial complex.