This Fight Is Our Fight, by Elizabeth Warren: on Homeland Security

Elizabeth Warren: Reagan military spending meant more bombs & fewer textbooks

The trickle-down policies of the Reagan years shifted American' priorities. 1 At the same time that military spending expanded significantly, school funding was slashed by 15 percent. More bombs and fewer text books. And when the politicians figured out there was no price to pay politically, the cuts just kept on coming. Even during the Obama years, federal funding for education took a hard hit. In 2011, Republicans bargained for another 15% cut in return for increasing the debt ceiling and thus preventing the complete disruption of financial markets around the world.

Ronald Reagan: OpEd: Promised to shrink government, but DoD grew by 34%

Under Reagan the military didn't shrink. In fact, defense spending rose by 34 percent during Reagan's presidency. And spending that was already guaranteed by law, like Social Security and Medicare, remained out of the Republicans' reach. But all other spending that Congress had to approve year after year was now on the chopping block. All the spending on education, on infrastructure, and on research.

The trickle-down policies of the Reagan years shifted American' priorities. At the same time that military spending expanded significantly, school funding was slashed by 15 percent. More bombs and fewer text books.