Don’t Tread On Me

today George W signed the National Defense Authorization Act for the 2004 Fiscal Year.

In this new kind of war, our military needs to be fast and smart and agile — and it is. Right now, America’s Armed Forces are the best trained, best equipped, and best prepared in the world. And this administration will keep it that way. The bill I sign today authorizes $400 billion over the next fiscal year to prepare our military for all that lies ahead. We will do whatever it takes to keep our nation strong, to keep the peace, and to keep the American people secure.

The Congress has authorized the full $9.1 billion that I requested for ballistic missile defense. The spread of ballistic missile technology, along with the spread of weapons of mass destruction, is a terrible danger to America and to the world, and we must have the tools and the technologies to properly protect our people.

that is a whole lot of money. so much so that i can’t even wrap my mind around it. if you were in charge of a $400 billion dollar expense budget for 2004, what would be the top priority items on your list for the country? healthcare? education? the arts? infrastructure? defense? environment? economy? jobs? (this is not intended as a rhetorical question).