LETTER: Defense spending and the federal budget

In his recent letter to the Review-Journal, “Defense outlays,” Matthew Kuethe states two-thirds of the defense industry’s contributions went to Republicans, and this has been going on since the Reagan era. A cursory search covering 2017 to 2022 reports nearly 57 percent of the industry’s contributions went to Republicans, while Democrats received more than 43 percent.

Two-thirds would be an exaggeration of fact.

I do not know what Mr. Kuethe has against the military or the Republican Party. That would be his burden to bear. What he omits is the dollar amount the United States spends on other programs.

The defense budget is only 13 percent of spending, whereas Social Security is 21 percent and health insurance is 24 percent of the budget. Maybe we cut out some of those programs heavily favored by the Democratic Party. No that would be political and in an area of the budget that should be avoided with all cost.