User:Cumulus/sandbox Sanders

Military spending

Bernie Sanders has mentioned several times that he is for reducing military spending and would rather use diplomacy over military force.

However, even though Bernie Sanders has frequently been critical of the military-industrial complex, he has been criticized by Citizens Against Nuclear Bombers in Vermont for supporting stationing the F-35s at the Burlington Air National Guard Base. There were concerns that the aircraft would be nuclear capable, which has been refuted by officials, and that the aircraft would produce sound pollution. Additionally, Vermont is part of the production chain, which provides 1,600 jobs and yields $200 million to the local economy, which is important because Vermont ranks 44/50 for economic growth, making it valuable to the state's economy. While this might come off as hypocritical, in an interview with NBC Bernie said that the F-35 had huge cost overruns, the process and amount of money spent are legitimate concerns, but right now the F-35 is built and if it doesn't come to Vermont it will just go to another community. He also later said along Vermont Sen. Patrick Leahy and Rep. Peter Welch that if the aircraft di become

"In very clever ways, the military-industrial complex puts plants all over the country, so that if people try to cut back on our weapons system what they’re saying is you’re going to be losing jobs in that area,-"

Nevertheless, as mentioned above, Sanders favors a non-interventionist foreign policy.