While Congress and the president debate whether to use our military to strike Syria, there has been a basic question that Representative Buck McKeon wants answered. How is the military going to be effective if we keep cutting their budget?

The military budget is being cut every year due to sequestration. During the last five years the defense department budget has been cut three times. The reductions total $1.2 trillion. Here is how Buck McKeon explained it.

“President Obama surged troops to Afghanistan as he cut the military’s budget. He sent the Air Force on bombing missions over Libya as he cut the military’s budget. He initiated a pivot to Asia, focusing the Navy there, as he cut the military’s budget. And now he is asking Congress to authorize military strikes against Syria while cutting the military’s budget another $50 billion in the next fiscal year under sequestration.”

Buck McKeon compares it to your car. “If you put 175,000 miles on your Chevy and spend less on maintenance as time passed, soon that Chevy’s going to up on blocks.” We are not only cutting back on weapons, we are cutting back on military salaries. The day before the president asked Congress to authorize the mission, he told the troops that their salaries will be less next year.

We can have a robust debate about whether we should use military and how we should use the military. But an important question that deserves to be part of the debate is whether we should commit a depleted military to combat missions. We should make sure that our troops have the salaries, equipment, and support so their mission is successful.

Some who call into my radio program ask why we are talking about another military action when America is nearly $17 trillion in debt. Other ask why we want to spend more money and engage in another military action when we have problems that need to be addressed at home. These are good questions that deserve a hearing.

Buck McKeon is asking the most basic question. Can we expect the military to be successful with a depleted budget? I’m Kerby Anderson, and that’s my point of view.