What is in the defense budget?

A 1% pay raise for the troops? Gee do you think they can get off food stamps with that?

What these critics may not realize is that the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program is also increasingly relied upon by members of the U.S. armed forces, with patrons of military commissaries using food stamps to purchase $103.6 million worth of groceries in fiscal 2013.

That's a 5 percent rise from 2012, and almost double the $52.9 million spent in 2009.

That's a faster pace of growth than the general population, since overall SNAP spending rose just 51 percent from 2009 through 2013, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Senate approves giant defense policy bill
The Associated Press
By Donna Cassata
PUBLISHED: Saturday, December 13, 2014

WASHINGTON – Congress on Friday sent President Barack Obama a massive defense policy bill that endorses his stepped-up military campaign of airstrikes, and training of Iraqis and moderate Syrian rebels in the war against Islamic State militants.

The Senate overwhelmingly approved the bill, which authorizes funds for basic military operations, including construction of ships, aircraft and weapons, as well as a 1 percent pay raise for the troops.

The vote was 89-11.

The measure also served as a catch-all for legislation that was generally supported by Congress but stalled as the end of the session neared.

A coalition of defense hawks and Western state Republicans overcame objections by Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla., and several other GOP senators, who were furious that unrelated provisions to designate 250,000 acres of new, federally protected wilderness were added to the popular legislation dedicated to military operations.

The measure would authorize the training and equipping of moderate Syrian rebels battling the extremists, a mandate that lasts for two years. It also would provide $5 billion to train Iraqis to counter the militants who brutally rule large sections of Iraq and Syria.

“American air power had changed the momentum on the ground somewhat and given moderates in the region an opportunity to regroup, but ISIS cannot be defeated without an opposing force to take the fight to it on the ground,” said Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich., chairman of the Armed Services Committee.
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