The Washington Post’s Walter Pincus gets a jump on summer beach reading, going through the Senate Armed Services Committee’s 560-page report on recommended Pentagon spending. President Bush gave the committee a lot to consider when he proposed a record $515 billion budget for the Pentagon in fiscal year 2009.

The committee’s revisions include $400,000 bonuses for psychologists who stay at the Pentagon for three years. Also, believing that predatory lenders have especially targeted military personnel, the Pentagon is proposing financial literacy classes will now be taught at schools on military bases.   The budget also proposes giving the secretary of defense a home on a military base in the Washington area instead of installing expensive security gear in the secretary’s existing house.

The committee’s changes don’t appear to cut military waste. But they do take into account the problems of overwhelmed Pentagon employees and overstressed soldiers and Marines.  Read Pincus here.  MB

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