GOP Senator Outlines $68 Billion In Defense Cuts

WASHINGTON (AP) — One of the Senate's leading fiscal conservatives says that defense spending could be slashed by $68 billion over 10 years if the military stopped spending millions on running grocery stores, operating its own schools and developing a roll-up version of beef jerky.

In a new report on defense spending, Republican Sen. Tom Coburn of Oklahoma dubs the Pentagon the "Department of Everything."

Coburn says the Pentagon could save money if it eliminated duplicative and excessive programs that have nothing to do with the nation's security.

By turns sober and cheeky, the report points out that the Pentagon has spent more than $1 million on the 100-year Starship Project. About $100,000 went for a workshop that included a discussion titled "Did Jesus Die for Klingons Too?"