Washington, D.C. (November 12, 2020) — Today, National Taxpayers Union (NTU) and the R Street Institute announced the launch of a joint webinar series, “Pentagon Purse Strings.” The series, which will include at least eight live webinars, begins on Thursday, December 3. It will explore how Congress, military officials, and civil society leaders can rethink and reframe political, ideological, and policy debates around Pentagon spending.

The series will be co-hosted by Andrew Lautz, Policy and Government Affairs Manager at NTU, and Jonathan Bydlak, Director of the Fiscal and Budget Policy Project at R Street, co-authors of a widely discussed POLITICO editorial on the conservative case for limiting Pentagon spending.

“We plan to bring in a wide variety of viewpoints on the Pentagon budget, including stakeholders and special guests who ultimately disagree with us,” said Lautz. “We’re both interested in exploring different perspectives in a world deeply affected by COVID-19 and massive government spending in response.”

“The conventional wisdom is that conservatives should support large and growing defense budgets,” added Bydlak, “but we believe all government departments should be assessed on what we’re getting for our spending. We can be safer and save money by turning a watchful eye on the federal government’s largest bureaucracy.”

The first event will cover ongoing Pentagon reform efforts and the direction the Pentagon budget may go under a Biden administration and the 117th Congress. Special guests will be announced in the coming week.

More information about the National Taxpayers Union and the R Street Institute can be found at their websites, ntu.org and rstreet.org.

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