Romney Urges More Be Spent On Defense And Energy Research

By: Scott Helman

The Boston Globe

Wednesday, Apr 11, 2007

"Mitt Romney, giving one of his first major addresses on foreign policy yesterday, called for the United States to commit far greater resources to national defense, including higher military spending, 100,000 new troops, and government investment in an 'energy revolution' to make the country more self-sufficient.

"With deep divisions in Washington over how to proceed in Iraq and how to conduct US foreign policy, Romney asserted a muscular vision of national security that would boost baseline defense spending to at least 4 percent of the Gross Domestic Product. The current rate is about 3.9 percent, and the increase would mean an additional $30 billion to $40 billion, according to Romney's campaign.

"'A strong America secures a safe world,' Romney said to 900 people gathered at the George Bush Presidential Library and Museum , revisiting a campaign theme about the underappreciated threat from radical Islam."

...

"And he's been sharply critical of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi for her trip to Syria and meeting with the country's president, Bashar al-Assad, whom Washington has worked hard to isolate.

"'At this time of war, her action stands as one of the most partisan, divisive, and ill-considered of any national leader in this decade,' Romney said yesterday."

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"Romney's call to peg defense spending to the GDP pleased the Heritage Foundation, an influential conservative Washington think tank whose scholars crafted such a proposal. Baker Spring, a Heritage fellow who helped devise the idea, said Romney was right to embrace it, because otherwise the military won't be able to adequately fund equipment and soldier pay.

"At the same time, Romney has called for a tighter federal budget overall, a campaign pledge that could make it difficult to boost military spending without deep cuts elsewhere.

"Romney also called for strengthening alliances such as NATO, and he reiterated his call for a 'summit of nations' to help moderate Muslim nations develop the infrastructure and institutions to modernize."

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